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During the Easter season, which begins with Easter Sunday and ends on Pentecost Sunday, the recitation of the Angelus is replaced by the prayer of the Regina Coeli.

Pope Francis has prayed the Regina Coeli the so-called Angel Mondayor Easter Monday, from the Library of the Apostolic Palace.

"Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!
The Monday after Easter is also called Angel Mondaybecause we remember the encounter of the angel with the women who went to the tomb of Jesus (cf. Mt 28,1-15). To them, the angel says: "I know that you are looking for Jesus, the Crucified One. He is not here, for he is risen" (vv. 5-6).

The expression "he is risen" goes beyond human capabilities. Even the women who had gone to the tomb and found it open and empty could not say: "He is risen", but only that the tomb was empty. That Jesus had risen could only be said by an angel, just as an angel could have said to Mary: "You will conceive a son [...] and he will be called the Son of the Most High" (Lc 1,31).

The evangelist Matthew narrates that on that Easter dawn "there was a great earthquake: the Angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled back the stone from the tomb and sat on it" (cf. v. 2). That great stone, which should have been the seal of victory over evil and death, was placed under the feet, became the footstool of the angel of the Lord. All the plans and defenses of the enemies and persecutors of Jesus have been in vain.

The image of the angel seated on the stone of the tomb is the concrete, visual manifestation of the victory of God over evil, of the victory of Christ over the prince of this world, of light over darkness. The tomb of Jesus was not opened by a physical phenomenon, but by the intervention of the Lord. The angel's appearance, Matthew adds, "was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow" (v. 3). These details are symbols that affirm the intervention of God himself, the bearer of a new era, of the end times of history.

Before this intervention of God, there is a double reaction. That of the guards, who are unable to cope with the overwhelming power of God and are shaken by an inner earthquake: they are as good as dead (cf. v. 4). The power of the Resurrection strikes down those who had been used to guarantee the apparent victory of death. The reaction of the women is very different, because they are expressly invited by the angel of the Lord not to fear: "Do not be afraid" (v. 5) and not to look for Jesus in the tomb.

From the words of the angel we can glean a valuable teaching: let us never tire of seeking the risen Christ, who gives life in abundance to those who encounter him. To encounter Christ means to discover peace of heart. The same women in the Gospel, after their initial confusion, experience great joy at finding the Master alive again (cf. vv. 8-9). In this Easter season, I wish everyone the same spiritual experience, welcoming into their hearts, homes and families the joyful proclamation of Easter: "The Risen Christ dies no more, for death has no more power over him" (Communion Antiphon).

This certainty induces us to pray, today and throughout the Easter period: "Regina Caeli, laetare - Queen of Heaven, rejoice". The angel Gabriel greeted her thus the first time: "Rejoice, full of grace!" (Lc 1,28). Now Mary's joy is complete: Jesus lives, Love has conquered. May this also be our joy!"

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This year we have not been able to see Pope Francis impart the "Urbi et Orbi" blessing - to the city and to the whole world - from the balcony of the Loggia of Blessings. However, we have seen him do so from the Altar of the Chair of St. Peter's Basilica, from where he has addressed the Easter Message to all the faithful listening to him on radio, television and other media.

Then, after the announcement of the granting of the indulgence made by His Eminence Card. Mauro Gambetti, Archpriest of St. Peter's Basilica, the Pope imparted the "Urbi et Orbi" blessing to all those following the moment.

We publish below the Easter Message of the Holy Father:

Dear brothers and sisters: Happy Easter!
Today the Church's proclamation resounds in every part of the world: "Jesus, the crucified one, has risen, as he had said. Alleluia.

The Easter proclamation is not a mirage, it does not reveal a magic formula, nor does it indicate a way out of the difficult situation we are going through. The pandemic is still in full swing; the social and economic crisis is very serious, especially for the poorest; and despite everything - and this is scandalous - armed conflicts continue and military arsenals are being strengthened.

In the face of this, or rather, in the midst of this complex reality, the Easter proclamation gathers in a few words an event that gives hope and does not disappoint: "Jesus, the crucified one, is risen". It does not speak to us of angels or ghosts, but of a man, a man of flesh and blood, with a face and a name: Jesus. The Gospel testifies that this Jesus, crucified under the power of Pontius Pilate for having said that he was the Christ, the Son of God, on the third day rose again, according to the Scriptures and as he himself had announced to his disciples.

The Crucified One, not another, is the one who is risen. God the Father raised his Son Jesus because he fully accomplished his will of salvation: he assumed our weakness, our infirmities, our very death; he suffered our pains, he bore the weight of our iniquities. For this reason God the Father exalted him and now Jesus Christ lives forever, he is Lord.

And the witnesses point out an important detail: the risen Jesus bears the wounds imprinted on his hands, his feet and his side. These wounds are the perpetual seal of his love for us. Anyone who suffers a hard trial, in body and spirit, can find refuge in these wounds and receive through them the grace of hope that does not disappoint.

The Risen Christ is hope for all those who are still suffering because of the pandemic, for the sick and for those who have lost a loved one. May the Lord comfort and sustain the efforts of doctors and nurses. All people, especially the most fragile, need assistance and have the right to have access to the necessary treatment. This is even more evident at this time when we are all called upon to fight the pandemic, and vaccines are an essential tool in this fight. Therefore, in the spirit of "vaccine internationalism," I urge the entire international community to make a common commitment to overcome the delays in their distribution and to promote their delivery, especially in the poorest countries.

The Risen Crucified One is a consolation for those who have lost their jobs or are experiencing serious economic difficulties and lack adequate social protection. May the Lord inspire the action of the public authorities so that all, especially the neediest families, may receive the help necessary for adequate sustenance. Unfortunately, the pandemic has dramatically increased the number of poor and the desperation of thousands of people.

"It is necessary for the poor of every kind to regain hope," said St. John Paul II during his trip to Haiti. And it is precisely to the dear Haitian people that my thoughts and my encouragement are directed this day, so that they may not be overwhelmed by difficulties, but may look to the future with confidence and hope.

The Risen Jesus is hope also for so many young people who have been forced to spend long periods of time without attending school or university, and without being able to share time with friends. We all need to experience real human relationships and not just virtual ones, especially at the age when character and personality are being formed. I feel close to young people all over the world and, at this time, particularly those in Myanmar, who are committed to democracy, making their voices heard in a peaceful way, knowing that hatred can only be dispelled by love.

May the light of the Risen Lord be a source of rebirth for migrants fleeing war and misery. In their faces we recognize the disfigured and suffering face of the Lord who walks towards Calvary. May they not lack concrete signs of solidarity and human fraternity, a guarantee of the victory of life over death that we celebrate on this day. I thank the countries that generously welcome those who suffer and seek refuge, especially Lebanon and Jordan, which receive so many refugees who have fled the Syrian conflict.

May the Lebanese people, who are going through a period of difficulties and uncertainties, experience the comfort of the risen Lord and be supported by the international community in their vocation to be a land of encounter, coexistence and pluralism.

May Christ, our peace, finally silence the clamor of arms in beloved and tormented Syria, where millions of people are currently living in inhumane conditions, as well as in Yemen, whose vicissitudes are surrounded by a deafening and scandalous silence, and in Libya, where a way out of a decade of bloody strife and confrontation is finally in sight. Let all the parties involved commit themselves effectively to putting an end to the conflicts and allowing the war-torn peoples to live in peace and start the reconstruction of their respective countries.

The Resurrection naturally refers us to Jerusalem; let us implore the Lord to grant it peace and security (cf. Salt 122), to respond to the call to be a meeting place where everyone can feel that they are brothers and sisters, and where Israelis and Palestinians can once again find the strength of dialogue to reach a stable solution that will allow the coexistence of two States in peace and prosperity.

On this feast day, my thoughts turn also to Iraq, which I had the joy of visiting last month, and which I pray may continue along the path of pacification it has embarked upon, so that God's dream of a human family hospitable and welcoming to all his children may be realized.[1] I am grateful to the President of the Republic for his efforts to bring about the peace that he has begun, so that God's dream of a human family hospitable and welcoming to all his children may be fulfilled.

May the strength of the Risen Lord sustain the peoples of Africa whose future is threatened by internal violence and international terrorism, especially in the Sahel and Nigeria, as well as in the region of Tigray and Cabo Delgado. May efforts continue to find peaceful solutions to conflicts, with respect for human rights and the sanctity of life, through fraternal and constructive dialogue, in a spirit of reconciliation and active solidarity.

There are still too many wars and too much violence in the world! May the Lord, who is our peace, help us to overcoming the war mentality. May he grant all those taken prisoner in conflicts, especially in eastern Ukraine and Nagorno-Karabakh, that they may return safely to their families, and inspire leaders around the world to stop the arms race. Today, April 4, marks the World Day against anti-personnel landmines, the horrible and artful devices that kill or maim many innocent people every year and prevent "men from walking together on the paths of life, unafraid of the lurks of destruction and death."[2] How much better a world would be without these instruments of death!

Dear brothers and sisters, this year too, in various places, many Christians have celebrated Easter under severe restrictions and, in some cases, without even being able to attend liturgical celebrations. Let us pray that these restrictions, like all restrictions on freedom of worship and religion in the world, may be removed and that everyone may pray and praise God freely.

In the midst of the many difficulties we go through, let us never forget that we are healed by the wounds of Christ (cf. 1 P 2,24). In the light of the risen Lord, our sufferings are transfigured. Where there was death there is now life; where there was mourning there is now consolation. By embracing the Cross, Jesus has given meaning to our sufferings. And now let us pray that the beneficial effects of this healing may extend to the whole world. Happy Easter to all!

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"It is always possible to start over". This was one of the Pope's messages during this year's Easter Vigil, marked once again by the pandemic. The celebration took place at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday evening at the Altar of the Chair of St. Peter's Basilica. The nave was completely empty, except for a few faithful gathered in the pews of the apse of the Cathedra.

For this reason, the rite of the Blessing of the Fire, which took place at the foot of the Altar of Confession, was more charged with symbolism than in other years. The initial procession started from the Altar of Confession to the Altar of the Chair passing by the side of the "Altar of St. Joseph".

With the singing of the Gloria, the Basilica was progressively illuminated until it was completely lit. During the ceremony, the preparation of the paschal candle was omitted and there were no baptisms, only the renewal of the baptismal promises, preceded by the blessing of the lustral water.

We publish below the text of the homily delivered by the Pope during the Easter Vigil, after the proclamation of the Holy Gospel:

"The women thought they were going to find the body to anoint, instead they found an empty tomb. They had gone to mourn a dead man, but instead they heard a proclamation of life. That is why, the Gospel says, those women were "frightened and bewildered" (Mc 16,8). Bewilderment: in this case it is fear mixed with joy that surprises their hearts when they see the great stone of the tomb removed and inside a young man in a white robe.

It is the wonder of hearing those words: "Do not be afraid! The one you are looking for, Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified one, is risen" (v. 6). And then that invitation: "He will go before you to Galilee, and there you will see him" (v. 7). Let us also accept this invitation, Easter invitationLet us go to Galilee, where the risen Lord precedes us. But what does it mean to "go to Galilee"?

Going to Galilee means, first of all, start over. For the disciples it was to return to the place where the Lord first sought them out and called them to follow him. It is the place of the first encounter and the first love. From that moment, having left the nets, they followed Jesus, listening to his preaching and witnessing the wonders he performed. However, although they were always with him, they did not fully understand him, they often misunderstood his words and before the cross they fled, leaving him alone.

In spite of this failure, the risen Lord presents himself as the One who, once again, precedes them in Galilee; he precedes them, that is, he goes before them. He calls them and invites them to follow him, never tiring. The Risen One says to them: "Let us begin again from where we began. Let us begin again. I want you back with me, despite and beyond all failures". In this Galilee we experience the amazement produced by the infinite love of the Lord, who traces new paths within the paths of our defeats.

This is the first Easter announcement I would like to offer you: it is always possible to start overFor there is a new life that God is able to restart in us beyond all our failures. Even from the rubble of our heart God can build a work of art, even from the ruined remains of our humanity God prepares a new history. He always precedes us: on the cross of suffering, desolation and death, as well as in the glory of a life that rises again, of a history that changes, of a hope that is reborn. And in these dark months of pandemic we hear the risen Lord inviting us to begin again, never to lose hope.

Going to Galilee, in the second place, means to travel new roads. It is to move in the opposite direction to the tomb. The women were looking for Jesus in the tomb, that is, they were going to remember what they had lived with Him and which they had now lost forever. They are going to take refuge in their sadness. It is the image of a faith that has become a commemoration of a beautiful but finished event, only to remember. Many live the "faith of memories", as if Jesus were a character of the past, a friend of the youth already distant, an event that happened a long time ago, when as a child he attended catechism classes. A faith made of customs, of things of the past, of beautiful childhood memories, that no longer moves me, that no longer challenges me.

Going to Galilee, on the other hand, means learning that faith, in order to be alive, must set out again. It must rekindle every day the beginning of the journey, the amazement of the first encounter. And then to trust, without the presumption of already knowing everything, but with the humility of those who allow themselves to be surprised by God's ways. Let us go to Galilee to discover that God cannot be deposited among the memories of childhood, but that he is alive, always surprising. Risen, he never ceases to amaze us.

Then, the second Easter proclamation: faith is not a repertoire of the past, Jesus is not an obsolete character. He is alive, here and now. It walks with you every day, in the situation you are living, in the trial you are going through, in the dreams you carry inside. It opens new paths where you feel there are none, it urges you to go against the current with respect to remorse and the "already seen". Even if everything seems lost to you, let yourself be caught up in awe by its novelty: it will surprise you.

Going to Galilee also means, go to the ends. Because Galilee is the most distant place, in that complex and diverse region live those who are farthest from the ritual purity of Jerusalem. And yet it was from there that Jesus began his mission, directing his proclamation to those who struggle for daily life, to the excluded, the fragile, the poor, to be the face and presence of God, who tirelessly seeks out those who are discouraged or lost, who goes to the very limits of existence because in his eyes no one is last, no one is excluded.

It is there that the Risen Lord asks his followers to go, even today. It is the place of daily life, the streets we walk every day, the corners of our cities where the Lord precedes us and makes himself present, precisely in the lives of those who pass by us and share with us the time, the home, the work, the difficulties and the hopes.

In Galilee we learn that we can find the risen Christ in the faces of our brothers and sisters, in the enthusiasm of those who dream and in the resignation of those who are discouraged, in the smiles of those who rejoice and in the tears of those who suffer, especially in the poor and the marginalized. We will be amazed at how God's greatness is revealed in littleness, at how his beauty shines in the simple and the poor.

Finally, the third Easter proclamation: Jesus, the Risen One, loves us without limits and visits all the situations of our lives. He has established his presence in the heart of the world and invites us too to overcome barriers, to overcome prejudices, to draw closer to those who are close to us every day, to rediscover the grace of everyday life. Let us recognize Him present in our Galilee, in everyday life. With him, life will change. For beyond all defeat, evil and violence, beyond all suffering and beyond death, the Risen One lives and governs history.

Brother, sister, if on this night your heart goes through a dark hour, a day that has not yet dawned, a buried light, a shattered dream, open your heart with wonder to the Easter proclamation: "Do not be afraid, he is risen! He is waiting for you in Galilee. Your expectations will not remain unfulfilled, your tears will be wiped away, your fears will be overcome by hope. For the Lord goes before you, He walks before you. And, with Him, life begins anew".

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Silence and emptiness once again dominated the atmosphere in the immense Basilica of St. Peter on the evening of Good Friday. At six o'clock in the evening, Pope Francis presided at the Altar of the Chair in St. Peter's Basilica for the celebration of the Offices of the Passion of the Lord.

After the initial procession, the Pope prostrated himself under the steps of the presbytery, leaving an iconic image, like the one we would see later when he kissed the Cross. The triple unveiling of the Cross preceded the act of adoration, and, after adoring the Cross, the Holy Father presented it to the silent adoration of the small gathered assembly. During the Liturgy of the Word, the account of the Passion according to St. John was read, and the homily was given by the Preacher of the Pontifical Household, Father Raniero Cantalamessa, O.F.M. Cap:

"Last October 3, at the tomb of St. Francis in Assisi, the Holy Father signed his encyclical on fraternity "Fratres omnes". In a short time, his writing has awakened in many hearts the aspiration towards this universal value, has highlighted the many wounds against it in today's world, has indicated ways to arrive at a true and just human fraternity and has exhorted everyone - individuals and institutions - to work for it.

The encyclical is ideally addressed to a very broad public, inside and outside the Church: in practice, to all humanity. It covers many areas of life: from the private to the public, from the religious to the social and the political. Given its universal horizon, it rightly avoids restricting the discourse to what is proper and exclusive to Christians. However, towards the end of the encyclical, there is a paragraph where the evangelical foundation of fraternity is summed up in few but vibrant words. It reads:

Others drink from other sources. For us, this source of human dignity and fraternity is in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. From it springs "for Christian thought and for the action of the Church the primacy given to relationship, to the encounter with the sacred mystery of the other, to universal communion with the whole of humanity as the vocation of all" (FO 277).

The mystery of the cross that we are celebrating obliges us to focus precisely on this Christological foundation of fraternity, which was inaugurated precisely in the death of Christ.

In the New Testament, "brother" (adelphos) means, in the primary sense, the person born of the same father and mother. Secondly, members of the same people and nation are called "brethren". Thus, Paul says that he is willing to become anathema, separated from Christ, for the sake of his brothers according to the flesh, who are the Israelites (cf. Rom 9:3). It is clear that in these contexts, as in other cases, "brethren" indicates men and women, brothers and sisters.

In this broadening of the horizon, we come to call every human person a brother, just because he is a brother. Brother is what the Bible calls "neighbor". "Whoever does not love his brother..." (1 Jn 2:9) means: whoever does not love his neighbor. When Jesus says, "Whatever you have done to one of the least of these my brethren, you have done to me" (Mt 25:40), he means every human person in need of help.

But along with all these meanings, in the New Testament the word "brother" indicates more and more clearly a particular category of persons. Brothers among themselves are the disciples of Jesus, those who embrace his teachings. "Who is my mother and who are my brothers? [Whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother" (Mt 12:48-50).

In this sense, Easter marks a new and decisive stage. Thanks to it, Christ becomes "the firstborn among many brethren" (Rom 8:29). The disciples become brothers in a new and very profound sense: they share not only the teaching of Jesus, but also his Spirit, his new life as the Risen One.

It is significant that only after his resurrection, for the first time, Jesus calls his disciples "brothers": "Go to my brothers," he says to Mary Magdalene, "and say to them, 'I ascend to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God'" (Jn 20:17). In the same vein, the Letter to the Hebrews writes: "He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all of one origin; for this reason [Christ] is not ashamed to call them brethren" (Heb 2:11).

After Easter, this is the most common use of the term brother; it indicates the brother of faith, a member of the Christian community. Brothers "of blood" also in this case, but of the blood of Christ! This makes the brotherhood of Christ something unique and transcendent, compared to any other kind of brotherhood, and is due to the fact that Christ is also God.

This new fraternity does not replace other types of fraternity based on family, nation or race, but crowns them. All human beings are brothers and sisters as creatures of the same God and Father. To this the Christian faith adds a second decisive reason. We are brothers not only because of creation, but also because of redemption; not only because we all have the same Father, but because we all have the same brother, Christ, "the firstborn among many brothers".

In the light of all this, we must now make some current reflections. Fraternity is built exactly as peace is built, that is to say, starting from up close, for us, not with grand schemes, with ambitious and abstract goals. This means that universal fraternity begins for us with fraternity in the Catholic Church. I also leave aside, for once, the second circle, which is the fraternity among all believers in Christ, that is, ecumenism.

The Catholic fraternity is wounded! The tunic of Christ has been torn by the divisions between the Churches; but - what is worse - each piece of the tunic is often divided, in its turn, into other pieces. I speak naturally of the human element of it, because the true robe of Christ, his mystical body animated by the Holy Spirit, no one will ever be able to wound it. In the eyes of God, the Church is "one, holy, catholic and apostolic" and will remain as such until the end of the world. This, however, does not excuse our divisions, but rather makes them all the more culpable and should impel us all the more strongly to heal them.

What is the most common cause of divisions among Catholics? It is not dogma, it is not the sacraments and ministries: all the things that by the singular grace of God we keep integral and unanimous. It is the political option, when it takes advantage of the religious and ecclesial option and defends an ideology, forgetting completely the sense and duty of obedience in the Church.

This, in many parts of the world, is the real factor of division, even if it is silently or contemptuously denied. This is sin, in the strictest sense of the term. It means that "the kingdom of this world" has become more important, in one's own heart, than the Kingdom of God.

I believe that we are all called to make a serious examination of our consciences on this matter and to convert. This is, par excellence, the work of the one whose name is "diabolos," that is, the divider, the enemy who sows tares, as Jesus defines him in his parable (cf. Mt 13:25).

We must learn from the Gospel and the example of Jesus. There was a strong political polarization around him. There were four parties: the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Herodians and the Zealots. Jesus did not align himself with any of them and vigorously resisted the attempt to drag him to one side or the other.

The early Christian community followed him faithfully in this choice. This is an example especially for pastors who must be shepherds of the whole flock, not of just one part of it. For this reason, they are the first to have to make a serious examination of conscience and ask themselves where they are leading their flock: whether to their side, or to Jesus' side.

The Second Vatican Council entrusts in particular to the laity the task of putting into practice, in different historical situations, the social, economic and political teachings of the Gospel. These can be translated into choices that are even different, when they are respectful of others and peaceful.

If there is a special charism or gift that the Catholic Church is called to cultivate for all Christian Churches, it is precisely unity. The Holy Father's recent trip to Iraq has made us feel firsthand what it means for those who are oppressed or who have survived wars and persecutions to feel part of a universal body, with someone who can make the rest of the world hear their cry and revive hope. Once again Christ's command to Peter has been fulfilled: "Confirm your brethren" (Lk 22:32).

To the One who died on the cross "to gather together the scattered children of God" (Jn 11:52) we raise, on this day, "with contrite heart and humbled spirit," the prayer that the Church addresses to him at every Mass before Communion:

Lord Jesus Christ, you said to your apostles: "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you. Look not on our sins, but on the faith of your Church, and according to your word grant her peace and unity, you who live and reign for ever and ever. Amen.

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At 10:00 a.m. on Holy Thursday morning, the Holy Father Francis presided at the Altar of the Chair in St. Peter's Basilica for the Chrism Mass, a liturgy celebrated in all cathedral churches. The evening Mass was not presided by Francis, as initially planned, but by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, Prefect Emeritus of the Congregation for Bishops and President Emeritus of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.

The Chrism Mass was presided over by the Holy Father and concelebrated by some Cardinals and Bishops, with the Superiors of the Secretariat of State and the members of the Presbyteral Council of the Diocese of Rome. During the Eucharistic Celebration, the priests renewed the promises made at the moment of their sacred ordination.

This was followed by the blessing of the oil of the sick, the oil of the catechumens and the chrism.
We publish below the homily delivered by the Pope after the proclamation of the Holy Gospel:

"The Gospel presents us with a change of feelings in the people who listen to the Lord. The change is dramatic and shows us how much persecution and the Cross are linked to the proclamation of the Gospel. The admiration aroused by the words of grace that came from the mouth of Jesus did not last long in the minds of the people of Nazareth. A phrase that someone muttered in a low voice went insidiously "viral": "Is this not the son of Joseph?

It is one of those ambiguous phrases that are dropped in passing. One can use it to express with joy: "How wonderful that someone of such humble origins speaks with such authority". And another might use it to say with contempt: "Where did he come from? Who does he think he is? If we look at
Well, the phrase is repeated when the apostles, on the day of Pentecost, filled with the Holy Spirit, begin to preach the Gospel. Someone said: "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans?" (Acts 2:7). And while some received the Word, others gave them up as drunkards.

Formally it would seem that an option was left open, but if we are guided by the fruits, in that concrete context, these words contained a germ of violence that was unleashed against Jesus. It is a "motivating phrase", as when one says: "This is already too much!" and assaults the other or leaves.

The Lord, who sometimes was silent or went to the other side, this time did not let the comment pass, but unmasked the evil logic that was hidden under the disguise of a simple village gossip. "You people will tell me this saying, 'Physician, heal thyself!' You have to do here in your own land the same things we heard you did in Capernaum" (Lk 4:23). "Heal thyself...". "Let him save himself...". There's the poison! It is the same phrase that will follow the Lord to the Cross: "He saved others! Let him save himself!" (cf. Lk 23:35); "and let him save us," one of the two thieves will add (cf. v. 39). The Lord, as always, does not dialogue with the evil spirit, but only responds with Scripture.

Neither were the prophets Elijah and Elisha accepted by their compatriots, but they were accepted by a Phoenician widow and a Syrian suffering from leprosy: two foreigners, two people of another religion. The facts are convincing and provoke the effect that Simeon, that charismatic old man, had prophesied: that Jesus would be "a sign of contradiction" (semeion antilegomenon) (Lk 2:34).

The word of Jesus has the power to bring to light what each one has in his heart, which is often mixed, like wheat and tares. And this causes spiritual struggle. Seeing the Lord's overflowing gestures of mercy and listening to his beatitudes and the "woe to you" of the Gospel, one is forced to discern and make a choice. In this case his word was not accepted and this caused the crowd, in a rage, to try to put an end to his life. But it was not "the hour" and the Lord, the Gospel tells us, "passed through the midst of them and went on his way" (Lk 4:30).

It was not the hour, but the speed with which the fury and ferocity of the fury was unleashed, capable of murdering the Lord at that very moment, shows us that it is always the hour. And this is what I would like to share with you today, dear priests: that the hour of the proclamation
and the hour of persecution and the Cross go together.

The proclamation of the Gospel is always linked to the embrace of some concrete Cross. The gentle light of the Word generates clarity in well-disposed hearts and confusion and rejection in those who are not. We see this constantly in the Gospel. The good seed sown in the field bears fruit - the hundredfold, the sixtyfold, the thirtyfold - but it also arouses the envy of the enemy who compulsively sets about sowing tares during the night (cf. Mt 13:24-30,36-43).

The tenderness of the merciful father irresistibly attracts the prodigal son to return home, but also arouses the indignation and resentment of the elder son (cf. Lk 15:11-32).

The generosity of the owner of the vineyard is a reason for gratitude in the workers of the last hour, but it is also a reason for sour comments in the first ones, who feel offended because their master is good (cf. Mt 20:1-16). The closeness of Jesus who goes to eat with sinners wins hearts like those of Zacchaeus, Matthew, the Samaritan woman..., but also arouses feelings of contempt in those who believe themselves to be good (cf. Mt 20:1-16).
fair.

The magnanimity of the king who sends his son, thinking that he will be respected by the vinedressers, nevertheless unleashes in them a ferocity beyond measure: we are before the mystery of iniquity, which leads to the killing of the Just One (cf. Mt 21:33-46). All this makes us see that the proclamation of the Good News is mysteriously linked to persecution and the Cross.

St. Ignatius of Loyola, in the contemplation of the Nativity, expresses this Gospel truth when he makes us look and consider what St. Joseph and Our Lady do: "how it is to walk and work, so that the Lord may be born in great poverty, and after so many labors, hunger, thirst, heat and cold, insults and insults, to die on the cross; and all this for my sake. Then," Ignatius adds, "on reflection, draw some spiritual profit" (Spiritual Exercises, 116). What reflection can we make to draw profit for our priestly life in contemplating this early presence of the Cross - of misunderstanding, rejection, persecution - at the beginning and at the very center of the preaching of the Gospel? Two reflections come to mind.

First, we are astonished to see that the Cross is present in the life of the Lord at the beginning of his ministry and even before his birth. It is present already in Mary's first confusion at the Angel's announcement; it is present in Joseph's sleeplessness when he felt obliged to abandon his betrothed wife; it is present in Herod's persecution and in the hardships suffered by the Holy Family, the same as those of so many families who have to leave their homeland.

This reality opens us to the mystery of the Cross lived beforehand. It leads us to understand that the Cross is not an a posteriori, occasional event, the product of a conjuncture in the life of the Lord. It is true that all the crucifiers of history make the Cross appear as if it were collateral damage, but it is not so: the Cross does not depend on circumstances.

Why did the Lord embrace the Cross in its entirety? Why did Jesus embrace the entire passion, embrace the betrayal and abandonment of his friends as early as the Last Supper, accept the illegal arrest, the summary trial, the unconscionable sentence, the unnecessary evil of gratuitous slaps and spitting...? If the circumstantial affected the saving power of the Cross, the Lord would not have embraced everything. But when it was His hour, He embraced the whole Cross, because on the Cross there is no ambiguity! The Cross is not negotiable.

The second reflection is the following. It is true that there is something about the Cross that is an integral part of our human condition, of our limits and fragility. But it is also true that there is something that happens on the Cross, which is not inherent to our fragility, but it is the bite of the serpent, which, seeing the crucified one helpless, bites him, and seeks to poison and disprove all his work. It is a bite that seeks to scandalize, immobilize and render sterile and insignificant all service and sacrifice of love for others. It is the poison of the evil one who keeps insisting: save yourself. And in this cruel and painful bite, which pretends to be mortal, God's triumph finally appears.

St. Maximus the Confessor made us see that with Jesus crucified things were reversed: by biting the Flesh of the Lord, the devil did not poison him - he only found in Him infinite meekness and obedience to the will of the Father - but, on the contrary, together with the hook of the Cross, he swallowed the Flesh of the Lord, which was poison for him and became for us the antidote that neutralizes the power of the Evil One.

These are our reflections. Let us ask the Lord for the grace to profit from this teaching: there is a cross in the proclamation of the Gospel, it is true, but it is a Cross that saves. It is a Cross endowed with the Blood of Jesus, it is a Cross with the power of Christ's victory that overcomes evil, that frees us from the Evil One. Embracing it with Jesus and like Him, "before" going out to preach, allows us to discern and reject the poison of scandal with which the devil will want to poison us when a cross unexpectedly comes into our life.

"But we are not of those who shrink back (hypostoles)" (Heb 10:39) is the advice given to us by the author of the Letter to the Hebrews. We are not scandalized, because Jesus was not scandalized to see that his joyful proclamation of salvation to the poor did not resound pure, but in the midst of the cries and threats of those who did not want to hear his Word.

We are not scandalized because Jesus was not scandalized by having to heal the sick and free prisoners in the midst of moralistic, legalistic, clerical discussions and controversies that arose every time he did good. We are not scandalized because Jesus was not scandalized by having to give sight to the blind in the midst of people who closed their eyes so as not to see or looked the other way.

We are not scandalized because Jesus was not scandalized that his proclamation of the year of the Lord's favor - a year that is the whole of history - provoked a public scandal in what today would occupy only the third page of a provincial newspaper. And we are not scandalized because the proclamation of the Gospel does not receive its efficacy from our eloquent words, but from the power of the Cross (cf. 1 Cor 1:17).

From the way we embrace the Cross in proclaiming the Gospel-with works and, if necessary, with words-two things become clear: that the sufferings that come for the sake of the Gospel are not ours, but "the sufferings of Christ in us" (2 Cor 1:5), and that "we do not proclaim ourselves, but Jesus as Christ and Lord" and we are "servants for Jesus' sake" (2 Cor 4:5).

I want to end with a memory. Once, in a very dark moment of my life, I was asking the Lord for a grace to free me from a hard and difficult situation. I went to preach Spiritual Exercises to some nuns and on the last day, as was usual at that time, they went to confession. A very old sister came, with clear eyes, really luminous.

She was a woman of God. At the end I felt the desire to ask her for me and I told her: "Sister, as a penance, pray for me, because I need a grace. If you ask the Lord for it, he will surely give it to me". She paused for a long moment, as if praying, and then she told me this: "Surely the Lord will give you the grace, but make no mistake: he will give it to you in his divine way". This did me a lot of good: to feel that the Lord always gives us what we ask for, but he does it in his divine way. This way involves the cross. Not out of masochism, but out of love, out of love to the end".

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