Vatican
City, 24 March 2013
(VIS) – Following is the whole text of Pope Francis' homily during
the Palm Sunday Mass that begins the Holy Week celebrations. The Holy
Father commented on the World Youth Day that the entire Church
celebrates today, asking that we live the faith “with a young
heart”. The pontiff urged the youth to “tell the world that it is
good to follow Christ!”
JOY
“Jesus
enters Jerusalem. The crowd of disciples accompanies him in festive
mood, their garments are stretched out before him, there is talk of
the miracles he has accomplished, and loud praises are heard:
'Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in
heaven and glory in the highest!' (Lk 19:38).“
“Crowds,
celebrating, praise, blessing, peace: joy fills the air. Jesus has
awakened great hopes, especially in the hearts of the simple, the
humble, the poor, the forgotten, those who do not matter in the eyes
of the world. He understands human sufferings, he has shown the face
of God’s mercy, he has bent down to heal body and soul.”
“This
is Jesus. This is his heart that looks upon all of us, who sees our
sicknesses, our sins. Jesus' love is great. And so He enters into
Jerusalem with this love and looks upon all of us. It is a beautiful
scene, full of light—the light of the Jesus' love, of his
heart—joy, and celebration.”
“At
the beginning of Mass, we repeated all this. We waved our palms. We
also welcomed Jesus; we too expressed our joy at accompanying him, at
knowing him to be close, present in us and among us as a friend, a
brother, and also as a King: that is, a shining beacon for our lives.
Jesus is God but He lowered himself to walk with us. He is our
friend, our brother. He enlightens us along the journey. And thus
today we have welcomed him.”
“And
this is the first word that I want to tell you: 'Joy!' Do not
be men and women of sadness: a Christian can never be sad! Never give
way to discouragement! Ours is not a joy that comes from having many
possessions, but it comes from having encountered a Person, Jesus,
who is among us. It comes from knowing that with him we are never
alone, even at difficult moments, even when our life’s journey
comes up against problems and obstacles that seem insurmountable, and
there are so many of them! This is the moment when the enemy comes,
when the devil, often times dressed as an angel, comes and
insidiously tells us his word. Don't listen to him! Follow Jesus! We
accompany, we follow Jesus, but above all we know that he accompanies
us and carries us on his shoulders. This is our joy, this is the hope
that we must bring to this world of ours. Please don't let him steal
our hope. Don't let him steal our hope, that hope that Jesus gives
us.”
CROSS
“The
second word. Why does Jesus enter Jerusalem? Or better: how does
Jesus enter Jerusalem? The crowds acclaim him as King. And he does
not deny it, he does not tell them to be silent (cf. Lk 19:39-40).
But what kind of a King is Jesus? Let us take a look at him: He is
riding on a donkey; He is not accompanied by a court; He is not
surrounded by an army as a symbol of power. He is received by humble
people, simple folk who had the sense to see something more in Jesus;
those with a sense of faith that tells them: 'This is the Saviour.
Jesus does not enter the Holy City to receive the honours reserved to
earthly kings, to the powerful, to rulers. He enters to be scourged,
insulted and abused, as Isaiah foretold in the First Reading (cf. Is
50:6). He enters to receive a crown of thorns, a staff, a purple
robe: his kingship becomes an object of derision. He enters to climb
Calvary, carrying his burden of wood.”
“And
this brings us to the second word: Cross. Jesus enters
Jerusalem in order to die on the Cross. And it is here that his
kingship shines forth in godly fashion: his royal throne is the wood
of the Cross! I think of what Benedict XVI said to the cardinals,
'You are princes, but of a crucified King.' That is Jesus' throne.
Jesus takes it upon himself... Why the Cross? Because Jesus takes
upon himself the evil, the filth, the sin of the world, including our
own sin—all of us—and he cleanses it, he cleanses it with his
blood, with the mercy and the love of God. Let us look around: how
many wounds are inflicted upon humanity by evil! Wars, violence,
economic conflicts that hit the weakest, greed for money, which none
of us can take with us, it must be left behind.”
Here
the Pope added a personal note: “My grandmother used to tell us
children, 'A shroud has no pockets!'” Then he continued: “Loving
money, power, corruption, divisions, crimes against human life and
against creation! And also—each of us knows and recognizes—our
personal sins: our failures in love and respect towards God, towards
our neighbour and towards the whole of creation.”
“Jesus
on the Cross feels the whole weight of the evil, and with the force
of God’s love he conquers it, he defeats it with his resurrection.
This is the good that Jesus' does for all of us upon his throne of
the Cross. Christ’s Cross embraced with love does not lead to
sadness, but to joy! It leads to the joy of being saved and of doing
a little of what He did that day of his death.”
YOUTH
“Today
in this Square, there are many young people: for 28 years Palm Sunday
has been World Youth Day! This is our third word: Youth! Dear
young people, I saw you in the procession when you entered. I think
of you celebrating around Jesus, waving your olive branches. I think
of you crying out his name and expressing your joy at being with him!
You have an important part in the celebration of faith! You bring us
the joy of faith and you tell us that we must live the faith with a
young heart,” and here he emphasized, “a young heart, always,
even at the age of seventy or eighty, a young heart. With Christ, the
heart never grows old!”
“Yet
all of us, all of you know very well that the King whom we follow and
who accompanies us is very special: he is a King who loves even to
the Cross and who teaches us to serve and to love. And you are not
ashamed of his Cross! On the contrary, you embrace it, because you
have understood that it is in giving ourselves, in giving ourselves
and in going outside of ourselves, that we have true joy and through
God's love He has conquered evil. You carry the pilgrim Cross through
all the Continents, along the highways of the world! You carry it in
response to Jesus’ call: “Go, make disciples of all nations”
(Mt 28:19), which is the theme of World Youth Day this year. You
carry it so as to tell everyone that on the Cross Jesus knocked down
the wall of enmity that divides people and nations, and he brought
reconciliation and peace.”
“Dear
friends, I too am setting out on a journey with you today, in the
footsteps of Blessed John Paul II and Benedict XVI. We are already
close to the next stage of this great pilgrimage of the Cross. I look
forward joyfully to this coming July in Rio de Janeiro! I will see
you in that great city in Brazil! Prepare well in your
communities—prepare spiritually above all—so that our gathering
in Rio may be a sign of faith for the whole world.” Then, in an
unscripted exhortation, the Pope called out: “Young persons, you
must tell the world that it's good to follow Jesus, that it's good to
go with Jesus. Jesus' message is good. It's good to go outside
ourselves to the ends of the earth and of existence to bring Jesus!
Three words: Joy, Cross, and Youth.”
“Let
us ask the intercession of the Virgin Mary. She teaches us the joy of
meeting Christ, the love with which we must look to the foot of the
Cross, the enthusiasm of the young heart with which we must follow
him during this Holy Week and throughout our lives. May it be so.”
