By Deborah Castellano Lubov With Jesus, it is never too late. With Him, things never end. Pope Francis stressed this during his speech speech on Palm Sundayinsisting that no matter how difficult a situation is, it is never too late to start again as the Lord awaits us in His mercy. The Pope presided over the Sunday Mass of the Lord’s Passion in St. Peter’s Square, marking for the first time since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic that the Holy Father could lead the celebration among numerous masked believers outside and not the interior of St. Peter. The Basilica of Peter with a very limited number is allowed to protect against transmission.
“Father, forgive them”
The Holy Father began his sermon by remembering how on Golgotha, “two ways of thinking clashed”. In the Gospel, the Pope observed, the words of forgiveness of the crucified Jesus are in stark contrast to those who crucified Him, who kept saying to Christ, “Save thyself.”
The Pope stressed how God’s way of thinking contradicts this egocentric proposition, noting: “The mantra save yourself conflicts with the words of the Savior who offers HimselfThe Lord did not defend or justify Himself. Instead, he prayed to the Father, offered mercy to the good thief, and said, “Father, forgive them” in the midst of “the most painful physical pain” of His Passion.
At such times, the Pope pointed out, “we cried and channeled all our anger and suffering. But Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them.’
Jesus, the Pope reminded, did not rebuke His executioners or threaten punishments in the name of God, but prayed for the wicked. The Pope then said that God does the same to us.
“When we cause pain with our actions, God suffers, but has only one desire: to forgive us”
“Let us look at Jesus on the Cross,” the Pope said, “and realize that we have never been looked at more gently and compassionately,” nor “have we ever received a more loving embrace.”
The Pope called the faithful to look at the crucified Lord and say: “Thank you, Jesus: you love me and always forgive me, even in those moments when I find it difficult to love and forgive myself.”
Jesus asks to break the vicious circle
“Let us think of someone who, in our lives, has hurt, offended or frustrated us; someone who has angered us, misunderstood us or set a bad example,” the pope said. “How often do we spend time looking back? to those who wronged us! ”
Today, the Holy Father insisted, “Jesus teaches us not to stay there, but to react, to break the vicious circle of evil and sorrow.”
God, the Pope reminded, “sees a son or a daughter in every person.” The Lord, he insisted, does not divide us into good and bad, friends and enemies. “We are the ones who do this and make God suffer.”
“For Him, we are all His beloved children, children whom He wants to embrace and forgive.”
You never get tired of forgiving
According to the Gospel, the Pope remembered, Jesus did not say to forgive those who crucified Him once as they nailed Him to the Cross, but passed all His crucifixion with these words on His lips and in His heart. “God does not tire of forgiving. He does not tolerate us for a while and then he changes his mind, as we are tempted to do “. “Let us never tire of proclaiming God’s forgiveness: we priests, manage it; all Christians, receive it and bear witness to it,” the pope said.
In the folly of war, Christ was crucified again
Those who crucified Christ, the Pope observed, had planned His slaughter, organized His arrest and His trials, and were now standing on Golgotha to witness His death. Regardless, he said, Christ justifies these violent men by saying that “they do not know.” This, the Holy Father explained, “this is how Jesus acts towards us: he makes himself our advocate. It is not set against us, but for us and against our sins. ” These words make us think, said the Pope. “When we resort to violence,” the pope continued, “we show that we no longer know anything about God, who is our Father, or even about others, who are our brothers and sisters. world and evFhimen end up committing irrational acts of cruelty. ” “We see this in the nonsense of war, where Christ is crucified once again,” the pope said.
“You will be with me in Paradise”
“Christ is once again nailed to the Cross to mothers who mourn the unjust death of their husbands and sons. He is crucified with refugees fleeing bombs with children in their arms. He is crucified in the elderly who are left alone to die. to young people who are deprived of a future; to soldiers who were sent to kill their brothers and sisters. “ The Pope reminded that only one person responded to Jesus’ invitation to leave the past and start a new one while Jesus was on the Cross, that is, “a criminal” crucified next to Jesus, who said “Jesus, remember me”. “The good thief accepted God as his life was coming to an end and in this way his life began anew,” the pope said. In the hell of this world, he saw paradise open: “Today you will be with me in Paradise.” death in the first sanctification of history “.
With God it is never too late
During Holy Week, the Holy Father said, “Let us cling to the assurance that God can forgive every sin, bridge every distance, and turn every mourning into a dance. The assurance that with Jesus there is always room for all.” “Jesus, things never end. That with Him, it is never too late.” “With God, we can always come back to life. Take courage! “ The Holy Father concluded by inviting the faithful to travel to Easter with His forgiveness, certain that Christ is constantly interceding for us before the Father. “Seeing our violent and tormented world,” said Pope Francis, “Jesus never tires of repeating, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.’ The whole video of the celebration of Palm Sunday in Agios Petros square
