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| Pope Francis presides Palm Sunday celebration in St. Peter's Square. (Photo: Vatican Radio Facebook page) |
True joy comes not from amassing worldly possessions but from
encountering the person of Christ, the Holy Father said during the Palm Sunday
celebration at St. Peter’s Square.
Pope
Francis, in his homily on Palm Sunday urged the faithful not to give in to
discouragement but instead be men and women of “joy”.
“Ours
is not a joy that comes from having many possessions, but from having
encountered a Person: Jesus, 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!” the pope said.
Pope
Francis ushered the beginning of the Holy Week blessing palm fronds and olive
branches on the obelisk in St. Peter’s Square.
The
Holy Father dwelt on three important points in his homily: Joy, Cross and
Youth.
He
said the entrance of Jesus in Jerusalem amid shouts of joy “has awakened great
hopes in the hearts” of the least and forgotten in society.
Jesus
understands the sufferings of human beings, the pope said, and “he has shown
the face of God’s mercy, he has bent down to heal body and soul.”
“At
the beginning of Mass, we repeated all this,” Pope Francis said. “We waved our
palms, our olive branches, we sang ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name
of the Lord’; we too 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 humbled himself to walk with us. He is our friend, our brother. Here, he
enlightens us on the journey.”
But
even as we accompany and follow Jesus, it is him who first “accompanies us and
carries us on his shoulders,” said the pope.
He
urged everyone to be steadfast in their hopes and share the “joy of the faith”
to all.
“This
is our joy, this is the hope that we must bring to this world of ours. Let us
bring the joy of the faith to everyone! Let us not be robbed of hope!”
The
pope said Jesus did not enter Jerusalem to receive honors reserved to earthly
kings but to embrace the Cross that lead to Calvary.
In
embracing the Cross, Jesus has taken “upon himself the evil, the filth, the sin
of the world, including our own sin, and he cleanses it, he cleanses it with
his blood, with the mercy and the love of God,” the pontiff said.
Reflecting
on the presence of evil in the world, the pope noted how “greed for money,
power, corruption, divisions, crimes against human life and against creation,”
have brought so much destruction on humanity.
But
by embracing the Cross with love, Jesus had conquered all evil, and “this is
the good that Christ brings to all of us from the Cross, his throne,” said the
pope, stressing that the Cross when “embraced with love does not lead to
sadness, but to joy!”
Pope
Francis also called on young people to continue living and sharing the faith
with the dynamism of youth.
“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, always,
even at the age of seventy or eighty,” the pontiff said.
Announcing
that he is also setting out on the same journey his predecessors had been, Pope
Francis urged the youth to prepare spiritually for the upcoming world youth day
celebration.
“I
will see you in that great city in Brazil! Prepare well – prepare spiritually
above all – in your communities, so that our gathering in Rio may be a sign of
faith for the whole world,” the pope said.
Palm
Sunday has traditionally been celebrated as World Youth Day, since it was first
instituted 28 years ago by Blessed John Paul II.
But
every three years a worldwide celebration is held with a particular country as
host venue.
In
July this year, the World Youth Day will be celebrated at Rio de Janeiro in
Brazil. (CBCPNews)
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