It is the warmth of teenagers, on the second day of the novedials, which ideally embraces Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square. Where he hoped to meet them for their jubilee, to spur them, once again, to hear that joy of the Gospel that sweeps the fears of the heart, today we pray for the deceased pontiff. A celebration, chaired by Cardinal Pietro Parolinformer Secretary of State (remember that with the Pope’s death we decade from the office), which has a sense of emptiness and full, of nostalgia and gaze towards the future. The Cardinal immediately underlines it, in his homily, taking inspiration from the fear and loss of the disciples, after the death of Jesus, narrated in the Gospel of John. «Risen Jesus introduces himself to his disciples, while they are in the Upper Cenacle where they locked themselves for fear, with the barred doors. Their mood is troubled and their heart is in sadness, because the master and pastor they had followed leaving everything was nailed on the cross. They lived terrible things And they feel orphaned, alone, lost, threatened and defenseless, “says Parolin. “The initial image that the Gospel offers us on this Sunday can also represent well the mood of all of us, of the Church and the whole world. The shepherd that the Lord has given to his people, Pope Francis, ended his earthly life And he left us. The pain for its departure, the sense of sadness that assails us, The disturbance we feel in the heart, the feeling of loss: We are experiencing all this, like the apostles grieved for the death of Jesus, “says the cardinal welcomed by an applause of gratitude.
But, just «In these moments of darkness the Lord comes to us with the light of the resurrectionto illuminate our hearts. Pope Francis reminded us since his election and he has repeated it oftenputting that joy of the Gospel at the center of the pontificate who – as he wrote in Evangelii Gaudium – “fills the heart and the whole of life of those who meet with Jesus. Those who let themselves be saved by him are freed from sin, from sadness, from the inner void, by isolation. With Jesus Christ always born and the joy is reborn” “.
And then, even the boys who came here from all over the world to celebrate the Jubilee, with the employees and Vatican faithful, who are invited in particular to this celebration, can “almost touch in this square” that “Easter joy, which supports us in the hour of proof and sadness”. The first Sunday after Easter, the one dedicated to Mercy, “the name of God”, Pope Francis has always underlined, after the funeral of Pope Francis, again “present the whole world!”. And to this multitude that winds throughout the conciliation and in the neighboring roads, the Cardinal gets “The embrace of the Church and the affection of Pope Francis, who would have liked to meet you, look at you in the eye, pass through you to greet you». Parolin recalls the “Many challenges that you are called to face “, in particular” that of technology and artificial intelligence that characterizes our era in particular “and invites them to” never forget to feed your life with the true hope that has the face of Jesus Christ. Nothing will be too big or too demanding with him! With him you will never be alone or abandoned to yourself, Not even in the ugliest moments! He comes to meet you where you are, to give you the courage to live, to share your experiences, your thoughts, your gifts, your dreams, to see in the face of those close or distant a brother and sister to love, To which you have so much to give and so much to receive, to help you be generous, faithful and responsible in the life that awaits you, to make you understand what most applies in life: the love that everything includes and everything hopes “.
And speaking of the mercy underlines that this is “Greater than our limits and calculations, it is what characterized the magisterium of Pope Francis and its intense apostolic activity, together with the anxiety to announce it and share it with everyone – the announcement of the good news, the evangelization – which was the program of his pontificate. He reminded us that “Mercy” is the very name of Godand, therefore, nobody can put a limit on his merciful love with which he wants to get up and make us new people ».
The affection for Pope Francis “who is manifesting himself in these hours”, warns the cardinal against, “must not remain a simple emotion of the moment; His inheritance we must welcome it and make it become life lived, opening up to the mercy of God and also becoming merciful to each other». Because, it was Bergoglio’s teaching, “Mercy brings us back to the heart of faith. Reminds us that we must not interpret our relationship with God and our being Church according to human or worldly categories, because The good news of the Gospel is above all the discovery of being loved by a God who has bowels of compassion and tenderness for each of us regardless of our merits; It also reminds us that our life is woven of mercy: us We can get up after our falls And look to the future only if we have someone who loves us without limits and forgives us. And, therefore, we are called to the commitment to live our relationships no longer according to the criteria of the calculation or blinded by selfishness, but opening up to dialogue with the other, welcoming who we meet along the way and forgiven his weaknesses and errors “.
Mercy, Parolin insists, “heals and creates a new world, turning off the fires of distrust, hatred and violence”. Jesus who presents himself in the Upper Supper, “after the resurrection, offers the gift of peace and says:” To those to whom you will forgive the sins, they will be forgiven; to those to whom you will not forgive, they will not be forgiven “. Thus, the risen Lord establishes that His disciples, his Church, are instruments of mercy for humanity for those who wish to welcome the love and forgiveness of God. Pope Francis was a bright witness of A church that bends over with tenderness towards those who are wounded and heals with the Balm of Mercy; And he reminded us that there can be no peace without the recognition of the other, without the attention to those who are weaker and, above all, there can never be peace if we do not learn to forgive ourselves mutually, using the same mercy that God has towards our life “between us”.
And while “precisely on the Sunday of Mercy we remember with affection our beloved Pope Francis”, a “particularly alive memory among the employees and faithful of the Vatican city, many of whom are present here, and that I would like to thank for the service they carry out daily” the Cardinal recalls, among the thunderous applause of the listener, that “To you, to us all, to the whole world, Pope Francis addresses his embrace from heaven ».
