A long and heartfelt speech brought an end to the prayer vigil wanted by the Pope in St. Peter’s. There were several passages that pushed the faithful to meditation and prayer. Here are some:
«Dear brothers and sisters, your prayer is an expression of that faith which, according to the word of Jesus, moves mountains. Thank you for having accepted this invitation, gathering here, at the tomb of Saint Peter and in many other places in the world, to invoke peace. War divides, hope unites, arrogance tramples, love lifts, blind idolatry, the living God illuminates.
A little faith is enough, a crumb of faith, dear ones, to face together, as humanity and with humanity, this dramatic hour in history. Prayer, in fact, is not a refuge to escape our irresponsibilities, it is not an anesthetic to avoid the pain that so many injustices unleash, it is instead the most free, universal and disruptive response to death.”
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Prayer teaches us to act, the limited human possibilities are joined in prayer to the infinite possibilities of God. Thoughts, words and works then break the demonic chain of evil and place themselves at the service of the kingdom of God, a kingdom in which there is no sword, no drone, no revenge, no trivialization of evil, no unfair profit, but only dignity, understanding, forgiveness. Here we have a barrier to that delirium of omnipotence which is becoming increasingly unpredictable and aggressive around us.
The balance in the human family is seriously destabilized, even the holy name of God, the God of life, is dragged into discussions of death. Then, a world of brothers and sisters with a single father in the heavens disappears and, as in a nocturnal nightmare, reality becomes populated with enemies. Threats are heard everywhere, instead of calls to listen and meet.
Brothers and sisters, those who pray are aware of their limits, do not kill and do not threaten death. Instead, those who have turned their backs on the living God to make themselves and their power the mute, blind and deaf idol to whom they sacrifice every value and demand that the whole world bend the knee are enslaved to death. Enough with the idolatry of oneself and money, enough with the display of strength, enough with war, true strength manifests itself in serving life.
Saint John XXIII with evangelical simplicity wrote: “Everyone benefits from peace: individuals, families, peoples, the entire human family” and repeating the lapidary words of Pius XII he added, “nothing is lost with peace, everything can be lost with war”. Let us therefore unite the moral and spiritual energies of millions, billions of men and women, of elderly and young people who today believe in peace, who today choose peacewho heal the wounds and repair the damage left by the madness of war.
I receive many letters from children from nations in conflict, reading them one perceives with the truth of innocence all the horror and inhumanity of actions that some adults boast with pride. Let’s listen to the voices of children.
Dear brothers and sisters, certainly there are mandatory responsibilities of the rulers of nations. We cry out to them if they decide on acts of death, but there is no less great responsibility for all of us, men and women from many different countries. An immense multitude that repudiates the war, with deeds, not just in words. Prayer commits us to convert what remains violent in our hearts and minds. Let us convert to a kingdom of peace that is built day by day, in homes, in schools, in neighborhoods, in civil and religious communities, stealing ground from controversy and resignation with friendship and the culture of encounter.
Let’s go back to believing in love, in moderation, in good politics. Let’s train and play ourselves, each responding to their own vocation. Everyone has their place in the mosaic of peace.
The Rosary, like other very ancient forms of prayer, united us this evening in its regular rhythm, based on repetition. Peace makes space like this, word after word, gesture after gesture, like a rock is dug drop by drop, like the weaving progresses movement after movement on the loom. These are the long times of life, a sign of God’s patience.
We need not to be overwhelmed by the acceleration of a world that does not know what it is chasing, to return to serving the rhythm of life, the harmony of creation and healing its wounds, as Pope Francis taught us. There is a need for artisans of peace willing to initiate processes of healing and renewed encounter with ingenuity and audacity. There is in fact an architecture of peace in which the various institutions of society intervene, each according to their own competence, but there is also a craft of peace that involves us.
Dear brothers and sisters, let us return home with this commitment to always pray, without getting tired, and of profound conversion of heart.
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Today, more than ever, we need to show that peace is not a utopia. Brothers and sisters of every language, people and nation, we are one family that cries, that hopes and that gets up again. Never again will war be an adventure without return, never again will war spiral into mourning and violence.
Dear ones, peace be with all of you, it is the peace of the risen Christ, fruit of his sacrifice of love on the cross. For this reason we address our supplication to Him:
Lord Jesus, You have conquered death without weapons or violence. You have dissolved his power with the power of peace. Give us Your peace, like the uncertain women on Easter morning, like the distant and frightened national disciples.
Send Your spirit, breath that gives life, that reconciles, that makes adversaries and enemies brothers and sisters. Inspire us with the trust of Mary, your mother, who with a broken heart stood under your cross, firm in the faith that you would be resurrected.
May the madness of war end and the earth be cared for and cultivated by those who still know how to generate, how to protect, how to love life. Hear us, Lord of life.
