Mois : avril 2023

The good news of Christ’s resurrection, Pope Francis said during his Easter message, should hasten the entire world to work towards peace in Ukraine and Jerusalem, as mounting conflicts threaten to overshadow the message of Jesus’ victory over death. 

« Help the beloved Ukrainian people on their journey towards peace, and shed the light of Easter upon the people of Russia, » the pope said on Easter Sunday, April 9, marking one of the rare occasions where the pontiff directly spoke of Russia by name. 

« On this day, Lord, we entrust to you the city of Jerusalem, the first witness of your resurrection, » Francis prayed. « May there be a resumption of dialogue, in a climate of trust and reciprocal respect, between Israelis and Palestinians, so that peace may reign in the Holy City and in the entire region. »

The pontiff’s Easter plea comes over a year into Russia’s war against Ukraine, where the Vatican’s repeated offers to broker a ceasefire have been rebuffed, and after several days of escalating violence in the Holy Land following a violent raid of Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa mosque by Israeli police last week.  

The pope’s remarks were delivered from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica at the end of the outdoor Easter liturgy in a sun-drenched St. Peter’s Square and during his traditional urbi et orbi (« to the city and the world ») message, which was delivered in lieu of a homily during the Mass. 

« Comfort the wounded and all those who have lost loved ones because of the war, » Francis said of the raging conflict in Ukraine, « and grant that prisoners may return safe and sound to their families. » 

Francis went on to offer a litany of prayers for other countries facing violence, terrorism and war, especially in the Middle East and Africa, as well as nations suffering from natural disasters, poverty, corruption and an inability for Christians to practice their faith freely.

The pope specifically included Nicaragua in his prayers, where last month the Vatican was forced to close its embassy in the Central American country after an eight-year crackdown against the Catholic Church by President Daniel Ortega.

Francis went on to offer prayers for the « sorely tried people » of Haiti and pleaded for a « definitive » solution from the international community, where the nation is suffering its worst ever famine, an economic collapse and widespread lawlessness resulting from gang violence. 

Among other nations the pope remembered were South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, both of which the pope visited earlier this year in an effort to beg for peace and an end to the violence that has long plagued both African countries. 

Reflecting on the women in the gospels who were the first to visit Christ’s empty tomb and ran to tell the other disciples the good news, Francis prayed that the world would act with similar speed in responding to the challenges around it. 

« Let us make haste to surmount our conflicts and divisions, and to open our hearts to those in greatest need, » said Francis. « Let us hasten to pursue paths of peace and fraternity. » 

« Comfort refugees, deportees, political prisoners and migrants, especially those who are most vulnerable, as well as the victims of hunger, poverty and the dire effects of the drug trade, human trafficking and all other forms of slavery, » he prayed. 

« Lord, inspire the leaders of nations to ensure that no man or woman may encounter discrimination and be violated in his or her dignity; that in full respect for human rights and democracy these social wounds may be healed; that the common good of the citizenry may be pursued always and solely; and that security and the conditions needed for dialogue and peaceful coexistence may be guaranteed, » the pope continued. 

Tens of thousands of fresh flowers from the Netherlands adorned the piazza, with pilgrims overflowing from the square and up the via della Conciliazione, the major street that leads to the Vatican. 

Francis, who was just released from a three-night stay in the hospital on April 1 for bronchitis, was joined by some 30 cardinals, 15 bishops and over 300 priests for the Mass. Despite his recent health scare, the 86-year-old pontiff rebounded quickly, participating in all of the Holy Week liturgies with the exception of the outdoor Way of the Cross service on Good Friday evening, due to what the Vatican described as the « intense cold » in Rome. 

Following the Mass — his 11th Easter at the Vatican since being elected pope in 2013 — Francis spent nearly 30 minutes on the popemobile, circling St. Peter’s Square multiple times to greet the thousands of pilgrims on hand for the occasion, where he was met with shouts of viva il papa! (« Long live the pope »). 

« We believe in you, Lord Jesus. We believe that, with you, hope is reborn and the journey continues, » the pope concluded his Easter blessing. « May you, the Lord of life, encourage us on our journey and repeat to us, as you did to the disciples on the evening of Easter: ‘Peace be with you!' »

Easter is the time « to roll away the stone of the tombs in which we often imprison our hope and to look with confidence to the future, for Christ is risen and has changed the direction of history, » Pope Francis said as he celebrated the Easter Vigil Mass.

« The power of Easter summons you to roll away every stone of disappointment and mistrust,’ the pope said in his homily at the Mass April 8. « The Lord is an expert in rolling back the stones of sin and fear. »

The liturgy began in the back of St. Peter’s Basilica, rather than in the atrium as usual, with the blessing of the fire and the lighting of the Easter candle.

As the procession further into the darkened basilica and candles were lighted from the Paschal candle, Deacon Zane Langenbrunner chanted, « Lumen Christi » (« the light of Christ ») three times. The deacon, a seminarian at the Pontifical North American College, is preparing for ordination to the priesthood for the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana.

Despite the glow of cellphone screens, the basilica became increasingly brighter as the 8,000 people in the congregation lighted their candles as well.

Once Pope Francis in his wheelchair, all the concelebrants, the altar servers and two Swiss Guards were in place, Deacon Langenbrunner chanted the solemn Easter proclamation, the Exsultet.

During the Mass, Pope Francis baptized eight people: three people from Albania, two from the United States — Auriea Harvey and Francis X. Phi — and one each from Nigeria, Italy and Venezuela.

Two deacons carried the baptismal font to the pope and held it in front of him during the rite so that he could baptize the men and women without having to walk or stand, something he does with difficulty.

Pope Francis also confirmed the eight adults and gave them their first Communion during the Easter Vigil.

While Pope Francis presided over the two-and-a-half-hour Mass, Cardinal Arthur Roche, prefect of the Dicastery Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, was the main concelebrant at the altar.

In his homily, the pope focused on the Gospel story of the women going to Jesus’ tomb, « bewildered and dismayed, their hearts overwhelmed with grief at the death that took away their beloved. »

In the life of faith, he said, « sometimes we too may think that the joy of our encounter with Jesus is something belonging to the past, whereas the present consists mostly of sealed tombs: tombs of disappointment, bitterness and distrust » or of thinking « things will never change. »

People get weary or feel helpless when confronted with evil, or they see relationships torn apart, injustice or corruption go unchecked, he said. « Then too, we may have come face to face with death, because it robbed us of the presence of our loved ones or because we brushed up against it in illness or a serious setback. »

« In these or similar situations, our paths come to a halt before a row of tombs, and we stand there, filled with sorrow and regret, alone and powerless, repeating the question, ‘Why?' » the pope said.

But the Gospel says Jesus’ women disciples did not stand frozen before the tomb. Rather, he said, they run to the disciples « to proclaim a change of course: Jesus is risen and awaits them in Galilee. »

Pope Francis often speaks of the post-Resurrection call to go to Galilee. At the Easter Vigil, he said it is a call to leave the « upper room » where the disciples were hiding in fear and to set out on a mission.

But, he said, it is also a call back to the origins of their relationship with Jesus because they met him in Galilee and began following him there.

The call to go back to Galilee, he said, « asks us to relive that moment, that situation, that experience in which we met the Lord, experienced his love and received a radiantly new way of seeing ourselves, the world around us and the mystery of life itself. »

For each person, he said, Galilee « is the ‘place’ where you came to know Jesus personally, where he stopped being just another personage from a distant past, but a living person: not some distant God but the God who is at your side, who more than anyone else knows you and loves you. »

As an Easter exercise, Pope Francis asked people to think back to a time when they experienced the love of Jesus, when they heard God’s word speak directly to them or when they felt « the great joy » of forgiveness after going to confession.

« Each of us knows the place of his or her interior resurrection, that beginning and foundation, the place where things changed, » the pope said. « We cannot leave this in the past; the Risen Lord invites us to return there to celebrate Easter. Remember your Galilee. Remind yourself. »

« Remember the emotions and sensations, » he suggested; « see the colors and savor the taste of it. »

Rolling away « every stone of disappointment and mistrust, » the pope said, « let each of us return to his or her own Galilee, to the place where we first encountered him. Let us rise to new life. »

Alone, without God, humanity is nothing, the papal preacher told Pope Francis and thousands of people gathered for the Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion.

« As believers, it is our duty to show what there is behind or underneath » proclamations of relativism and nihilism, that is, to show the truth and new life brought by Christ’s resurrection, Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa said in his homily April 7 in St. Peter’s Basilica.

« The resurrection of Christ from the dead assures us, however, that if we repent, this path does not lead to defeat, but to that ‘apotheosis of life’ sought in vain elsewhere, » the cardinal said.

Presided over by Pope Francis, the service on Good Friday commemorates Christ’s passion and death on the cross.

The pope began the rite after a silent procession down the central nave.

As has become the norm, he arrived in a wheelchair and he sat in silent prayer before the main altar. Customarily, he would have knelt to lie prostrate on the floor in prayer, a sign of adoration and penance. However, ongoing difficulty with his knee has forced him to forego that practice; even last year, he stood in veneration.

During the veneration of the cross, after the homily, the pope stood at his chair wearing a red chasuble and prayed in silence before kissing the cross. The cross was then brought before the main altar for veneration, and a long line of cardinals and other faithful processed before the cross to bow or genuflect and kiss Christ’s figure. The pope then held the cross aloft briefly.

Following tradition, the homily was delivered by Cardinal Cantalamessa, preacher of the papal household.

He reflected on the consequences of philosophies that have proclaimed a fatalistic, hopeless form of the « death of God » in a « de-Christianized Western world. »

No matter what form or name those philosophies take, he said, « the common denominator is a total relativism in every field — ethics, language, philosophy, art and, of course, religion. »

« Nothing more is solid; everything is liquid or even vaporous. At the time of Romanticism, people used to bask in melancholy, today in nihilism! » the cardinal said.

« But history, literature and our own personal experience tell us » that « there is a transcendent truth that no historical account or philosophical reasoning could convey to us, » he said. « God knows how proud we are and has come to our help by emptying himself in front of us. »

Cardinal Cantalamessa said, the Good Friday liturgy is not to convince atheists that God is not dead. « It is to keep believers — who knows, perhaps even just one or two university students — from being drawn into this vortex of nihilism which is the true ‘black hole’ of the spiritual universe. »

« For two thousand years, the church has announced and celebrated, on this day, the death of the Son of God on the cross, » he said. However, « at every Mass, after the consecration, we say or sing: ‘We proclaim your death, O Lord, and profess your resurrection until you come again.' »

Pope Francis had been scheduled later that night to preside over the Stations of the Cross in Rome’s Colosseum.

However, the Vatican press office told reporters late afternoon April 7 that « due to the intense cold these days » the pope would be following the nighttime ceremony from his residence, the Domus Sanctae Marthae, « joining the prayers of those gathered with the Diocese of Rome at the Colosseum. »

Weather forecasts estimated the late evening temperature would be around 52 degrees Fahrenheit (11 degrees Celsius). The evening temperatures for Good Friday in mid-April last year were also in the 50s.

However, this year, the pope was released April 1 from the hospital where he had spent three nights for a respiratory infection, and the pope had a slight cough and rough voice when he recited some of the prayers at the Good Friday liturgy.

The theme for the meditations for the 14 stations was « Voices of peace in a world at war. » The commentaries and prayers were inspired by what Pope Francis has been hearing from people suffering from a lack of peace during his apostolic journeys and other occasions. Several dicasteries of the Roman Curia compiled the texts.

The text of the commentary and prayers on the 14 Stations of the Cross was published late April 7 on the Vatican website. It included « voices of peace » from young people from Central America and North Africa, migrants, a consecrated woman who witnessed the December 2013 massacres in the Central African Republic and young people from Ukraine and Russia.

“It is fulfilled” (John 19:30).

Is 52:13—53:12; Heb 4:14-16; 5:7-9; Jn 18:1—19:42

Good Friday of Holy Week

Of all the questions we might ask about the impact of the Jesus community on history, the first ought to be why it survived at all. Why did it emerge from the countless movements, religions and charismatic impulses passing through the ancient world to fire the imaginations of poets, artists and mystics and end up influencing global culture to the extent that it has?

How did an obscure hill country Jewish preacher leave such a profound imprint on the collective psyche of the world, attracting billions of adherents and shaping even the arguments of skeptics who dismiss him?

Apart from the theological answer that he was God incarnate come to save the world, another case might be made for the symbol that came to characterize the life and death of Jesus of Nazareth. The cross he died on placed him at the intersection of human despair and divine response. The body of Jesus hangs vertically and reaches horizontally. He is fixed in the human imagination at the crossroads of hope and despair, love and death, locked in the universal question the cross poses for all of us: Love or Death, which one is ultimate?

Jesus’ violent death, a human being sacrificed at the height of his powers and in the fullness of his freedom, is what gives the cross its power. No hapless victim, Jesus dies for love when he might have fled. He could have saved himself, but saved us instead, emptying his life into ours so completely that life and death are redefined by love. This is what a human being looks like. This is the image and likeness of God, revealed to the world on a cross.

The sign of the cross is therefore the simplest, most complete and portable catechesis we have. By making it over our bodies, head to heart, shoulder to shoulder, we bless our lives in relationship to God and in outreach to one another. It is the perfect prayer for Good Friday.