«Have mercy! Lay down your weapons, remember that you are brothers! It is the cry that Jesus still addresses to the world from the top of the cross. Prevost, in the celebration of his first Palm Sunday as Pontiff, forcefully recalls the sacrifice of Christ, king of peace, who sacrificed himself to make his life a gift of love. And in these days bloodied by conflicts he reiterates the importance of meekness, humility and peace.
«Let’s look at Jesus who presents himself as King of peace, while war is preparing around Him» he says in the homily. «He, who remains firm in meekness, while the others agitate in violence. He, who offers himself as a caress for humanity, while others hold swords and sticks. He, who is the light of the world, while darkness is about to cover the earth. He, who came to bring life, while the plan to condemn him to death is being carried out.” He quotes Zechariah and Isaiah, the books written in Hebrew contained in the Old Testament, almost as if he also wanted to speak to today’s Israel to remember the ancient prophecies that invite us to celebrate the arrival of the Messiah: «Behold, your king comes to you. / He is just and victorious, / humble, riding a donkey, / a colt, the son of a donkey. / He will make the war chariot disappear from Ephraim / and the horse from Jerusalem, / the war bow will be broken, / he will announce peace to the nations». And again, with Isaiah: «Even if you multiplied your prayers, I would not listen: your hands are dripping with blood.”.
Following Christ means putting your swords back in their sheaths, as Jesus tells the disciple who, to defend him, cuts off the ear of one of the guards who is about to arrest him. «Put your sword back in its place, for all who take the sword will die by the sword», Jesus tells him.
«As King of peace», explains Leo, «while he was burdened with our sufferings and pierced for our sins, He “did not open his mouth; he was like a lamb led to the slaughter, like a sheep that is silent before its shearers”. He didn’t arm himself, he didn’t defend himself, he didn’t fight any war. He manifested the gentle face of God, who always rejects violence, and instead saves himself he allowed himself to be nailed to the cross, to embrace all the crosses planted in every time and place in the history of humanity.”
The Pontiff reiterates that «this is our God: Jesus, King of peace. A God who rejects war, who no one can use to justify war, who does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war and rejects it.”
Looking at him on the cross we see, in Him, «the crucified of humanity. In his wounds we see the wounds of many women and men today. In his last cry addressed to the Father we hear the cries of those who are dejected, of those who are without hope, of those who are sick, of those who are alone. And above all we hear the groan of pain of all those oppressed by violence and of all the victims of war.”
But we also know that suffering, death, wars are not the last word. And then the Pope, with the words of Don Tonino Bello, entrusts the cry for peace of all those who suffer to Mary «who stands under the cross of her Son, and also cries at the feet of today’s crucifixes: “Holy Mary, woman of the third day, give us the certainty that, despite everything, death will no longer have a hold on us. That the injustices of peoples have their days numbered. That the flashes of war are reducing to twilight lights. That the suffering of the poor has reached its final gasps. (…) And that, finally, the tears of all the victims of violence and pain will soon be dried uplike the frost from the spring sun.”
