After spending three nights at the Gemelli Polyclinic due to a respiratory infection, and receiving yesterday the medical dischargePope Francis presided this morning over the liturgical celebration of Palm Sunday and the Passion of the Lord in St. Peter's Square at the beginning of Holy Week with tens of thousands of pilgrims.
Before the beginning of the Holy Mass, the blessing of the olive branches took place at the Obelisk in St. Peter's Square, where the Holy Father went in the Popemobile and where the Cardinals were waiting for him. The procession then took place to the Basilica for the open-air Holy Mass, presided over by the Pope and concelebrated by Cardinals Leonardo Sandri, Giovanni Battista Re and Francis Arinze, and the other cardinals.
In his homily, the Pope began by recalling the words of Jesus: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me" (Mt 27:46). This is the invocation that the Liturgy has us repeat today in the Responsorial Psalm (cf. Ps 22:2) and it is the only one pronounced by Jesus on the Cross in the Gospel that we have heard. They are, then, the words that take us to the heart of Christ's passion, to the climax of the sufferings he endured to save us," the Pope said.
"So that we may have hope."
The Holy Father asked himself: "Why did it come to this point? The answer is only one: because of us. For me, for me, for me," he repeated on several occasions. "He became in solidarity with us to the extreme, to be with us to the last consequences. So that none of us could consider ourselves alone and insurmountable. He experienced abandonment so as not to leave us hostages of desolation and to be by our side forever."
"He did it for you, for me," the Pope insisted again, "so that when you, me, or anyone else finds themselves between a rock and a hard place, lost in a dead end, plunged into the abyss of abandonment, absorbed by the whirlwind of 'why,' they can have hope. It is not the end, because Jesus has been there and is now with you. So that each one of us can say: in my falls, in my desolation, when I feel betrayed, discarded and abandoned, when I can no longer go on, He is with me. You are there, Jesus. In my failures, You are with me. When I feel misguided and lost, when I can't anymore, You are there, You are with me. In my unanswered 'why's, You are with me. He is with me. This is how the Lord saves us, from within our 'why'. From there he unfolds hope.
"Eyes and heart for the abandoned."
The Roman Pontiff then referred to the Lord's love for each one, and to "Jesus forsaken," who "asks us to have eyes and a heart for the forsaken." "Behold who God is and how much he loves us, how much he loves us, how much we have cost him!"
"Such a love, all for us, to the extreme, can transform our hearts of stone into hearts of flesh, capable of pity, tenderness and compassion," the Pope added. "Christ forsaken moves us to seek him and love him in the abandoned. For in them there are not only people in need, but there is He, Jesus forsaken, the One who saved us by descending to the depths of our human condition."
Francis then recalled, off-script, "that man of the street who died alone abandoned, between the columns" of St. Peter's. "It is Jesus who needs us," he said.
"That is why he wants us to take care of the brothers and sisters who are most like him, in the extreme moment of pain and loneliness. Today there are so many "abandoned Christs". There are entire peoples exploited and abandoned to their fate; there are poor people who live at the crossroads of our streets, with whom we dare not cross our gaze; migrants who are no longer faces but numbers; rejected prisoners, people labeled as problems".
"But there are also so many invisible, hidden, abandoned Christs who are discarded with a white glove," the Holy Father continued: "unborn children, elderly people who have been left alone, who can be your mom, dad, grandfather, grandmother, unvisited sick people, ignored disabled people, young people who feel a great inner emptiness without anyone really listening to their cry of pain."
"Jesus forsaken asks us to have eyes and hearts for the abandoned. For us, disciples of the Forsaken One, no one can be marginalized; no one can be abandoned to his or her fate," he stressed, with words that recall his pressing appeals. "For, let us remember, rejected and excluded people are living icons of Christ. They remind us of the folly of his love, his abandonment that saves us from all loneliness and desolation."
"Let us ask today for the grace to know how to love the abandoned Jesus and to know how to love Jesus in every abandoned person," he concluded. "Let us ask for the grace to know how to see and recognize the Lord who continues to cry out in them. Let us not allow his voice to be lost in the deafening silence of indifference. God has not left us alone; let us care for those who have been left alone."
Thank you for the prayers, and entry into Holy Week.
At the conclusion of Holy Mass, the Pope greeted the faithful in St. Peter's Square, especially those who had come from far away, before praying the Marian prayer of the Angelus. First of all, he thanked everyone for "your prayers, which you have intensified in recent days" of hospital admissionafter the detection of a respiratory infection.
The Pope recalled the peace caravan that has departed these days from Italy to Ukraine, promoted by various associations. Along with basic necessities, they bring the closeness of the Italian people to the "tormented Ukrainian people. And today they offer olive branches, symbol of the Peace of Christ. We join in this gesture with prayer, which will be more intense in the days of Holy Week", he added.
Pope Francis recalled that "with this celebration we have entered Holy Week. I invite you to live it as the tradition of God's holy and faithful people teaches us. That is, accompanying the Lord Jesus with faith and love".
"Let us learn from our Mother the Virgin Mary. She followed her Son with her heart. She was one soul with Him, and even without understanding everything, together with Him she gave herself fully to the will of God the Father. May Our Lady help us to remain close to Jesus, present in the suffering, discarded, abandoned people. May Our Lady lead us by the hand of Jesus present in these people. To all a good journey towards Easter," the Pope concluded.
