In the audience in Saint Peter’s Square, he reflected on the “Crucifix, source of hope.” The thought to the mothers of the Ukrainian and Russian soldiers fallen in the war, “like Mary at the foot of the Cross”.
Vatican City () – Just as on the Cross Jesus shows his wounds and transforms pain into “holes of light”, each one of us is also called in the mystery of Easter to be healed of sadness, making own wounds become occasions to love others. This is the message that Pope Francis addressed this morning to the faithful present in Saint Peter’s Square for the General Audience, on the eve of the Easter Triduum celebrations.
Inspired by the story of the Passion that was read in its entirety on Palm Sunday, the Pontiff focused on the discouragement of the disciples before the death of Jesus on the cross, the apparent “end point of hope.” “Dark thoughts and feelings of frustration accumulate in us too – he commented -: why so much indifference towards God? Why so much evil in the world? Why do inequalities continue to grow and the long-awaited peace does not arrive?” But also in the heart of each one: “how many vanished expectations, how many disappointments. And that feeling that times past were better and that in the world, perhaps also in the Church, things are not as before… In Ultimately, even today hope sometimes seems locked up under the stone of mistrust”.
But the same Cross of Jesus teaches that “God’s hope is born and is reborn in the black holes of our disappointed expectations.” And so Easter asks us once again to look at “the tree of the Cross to heal us from the sadness that makes us sick, from the bitterness with which we contaminate the Church and the world.”
The Cross – Francis continued – is the place where God “who has everything, allows himself to be deprived of everything. God thus wins over our appearances”. We, on the other hand, “dress ourselves in external appearances that we seek and take care of. We adorn ourselves with appearances, with superfluous things; but thus we do not find peace.” Stripped of everything, Jesus reminds us that hope is reborn when facing the truth about ourselves”. “Today, when everything is complex and there is a risk of losing the thread – added the Pope -, we need simplicity, we need to rediscover the value of sobriety, resignation, cleaning what contaminates the heart and saddens us. It’s good to get rid of useless things -he added, recalling an experience he had at Casa Marta-, and this goes to the poor, to people in need. Look at your closet, also the one of the soul: how many useless things you have, how many stupid illusions”.
Also, Jesus on the Cross shows his wounds. “We too are wounded”, the Pontiff commented, “who is not wounded in life? Who does not bear the scars of past choices, of misunderstandings, of pains that remain within and are difficult to overcome?” But what makes the difference is that God shows his wounds “to make us see that a new path can be opened at Easter: Jesus, who on the Cross does not recriminate, but loves. Loves and forgives those who hurt him. Thus he converts evil into good, thus transforming pain into love”.
“The question – continued Francisco – is not being hurt a little or a lot by life, but what we do with our own wounds”. The pontiff invited to think about the many young people today who do not tolerate their wounds and seek a way out through drugs or even suicide. “What do you do with your wounds?” asked the Pope again. “I can let them fester in resentment and sadness, or I can unite them with those of Jesus, so that my wounds also become luminous. They can become sources of hope when , instead of crying for ourselves, we wipe away the tears of others; when, instead of holding grudges for what they take from us, we worry about what others lack; when, instead of becoming self-absorbed, we lean towards those who suffer; when, instead of thirsting for love for ourselves, we quench the thirst of those who need us. Because only if we stop thinking about ourselves do we find ourselves”.
Finally, greeting the groups of pilgrims present at this audience that precedes the Easter Triduum was the occasion for a new invitation not to forget in these days “all the victims of war crimes.” “Let us raise a plea to God so that the hearts of all are converted,” Francis added. “Looking at Mary before the Cross, my thoughts go to the mothers of the Ukrainian soldiers and the Russian soldiers who fell in the war. They are mothers of dead children. Let’s pray for these mothers.”
