Vatican City, Apr 10, 2020 / 11:57 am (CNA).- Through his death on the cross, Jesus has redeemed all human pain, including the suffering caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, OFM Cap., said at the Vatican on Good Friday.
The ap… […]
Vatican City, Apr 10, 2020 / 11:23 am (CNA).- Here is the full text of the Good Friday homily of Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, OFM Cap., delivered April 10 at St. Peter’s Basilica.
“I have plans for your welfare and not for woe”
St. Gregory the Great said that Scripture “grows with its readers”, cum legentibus crescit. [1] It reveals meanings always new according to the questions people have in their hearts as they read it. And this year we read the account of the Passion with a question—rather with a cry—in our hearts that is rising up over the whole earth. We need to seek the answer that the word of God gives it.
The Gospel reading we have just listened to is the account of the objectively greatest evil committed on earth. We can look at it from two different angles: either from the front or from the back, that is, either from its causes or from its effects. If we stop at the historical causes of Christ’s death, we get confused and everyone will be tempted to say, as Pilate did, “I am innocent of this man’s blood” (Mt 27:24). The cross is better understood by its effects than by its causes. And what were the effects of Christ’s death? Being justified through faith in him, being reconciled and at peace with God, and being filled with the hope of eternal life! (see Rom 53:1-5).
But there is one effect that the current situation can help us to grasp in particular. The cross of Christ has changed the meaning of pain and human suffering—of every kind of suffering, physical and moral. It is no longer punishment, a curse. It was redeemed at its root when the Son of God took it upon himself. What is the surest proof that the drink someone offers you is not poisoned? It is if that person drinks from the same cup before you do. This is what God has done: on the cross he drank, in front of the whole world, the cup of pain down to its dregs. This is how he showed us it is not poisoned, but that there is a pearl at the bottom of this chalice.
And not only the pain of those who have faith, but of every human pain. He died for all human beings: “And when I am lifted up from the earth,” he said, “I will draw everyone to myself” (Jn 12:32).
Everyone, not just some! St. John Paul II wrote from his hospital bed after his attempted assassination, “To suffer means to become particularly susceptible, particularly open to the working of the salvific powers of God, offered to humanity in Christ.”[2] Thanks to the cross of Christ, suffering has also become in its own way a kind of “universal sacrament of salvation” for the human race.
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What light does all of this shed on the dramatic situation that the world is going through now? Here too we need to look at the effects more than at the causes—not just the negative ones we hear about every day in heart-wrenching reports but also the positive ones that only a more careful observation can help us grasp.
The pandemic of Coronavirus has abruptly roused us from the greatest danger individuals and humanity have always been susceptible to: the delusion of omnipotence. A Jewish rabbi has written that we have the opportunity to celebrate a very special paschal exodus this year, that “from the exile of consciousness” [3]. It took merely the smallest and most formless element of nature, a virus, to remind us that we are mortal, that military power and technology are not sufficient to save us. As a psalm says, “In his prime, man does not understand. / He is like the beasts—they perish” (Ps 49:21). How true that is!
While he was painting frescoes in St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, the artist James Thornhill became so excited at a certain point about his fresco that he stepped back to see it better and was unaware he was about to fall over the edge of the scaffolding. A horrified assistant understood that crying out to him would have only hastened the disaster. Without thinking twice, he dipped a brush in paint and hurled it at the middle of the fresco. The master, appalled, sprang forward. His work was damaged, but he was saved.
God does this with us sometimes: he disrupts our projects and our calm to save us from the abyss we don’t see. But we need to be careful not to be deceived. God is not the one who hurled the brush at the sparkling fresco of our technological society. God is our ally, not the ally of the virus! He himself says in the Bible, “I have . . . plans for your welfare and not for woe” (Jer 29:11). If these scourges were punishments of God, it would not be explained why they strike equally good and bad, and why the poor usually bring the worst consequences of them. Are they more sinners than others?
No! The one who cried one day for Lazarus’ death cries today for the scourge that has fallen on humanity. Yes, God “suffers”, like every father and like every mother. When we will find out this one day, we will be ashamed of all the accusations we made against him in life. God participates in our pain to overcome it. “Being supremely good” – wrote St. Augustine – “God would not allow any evil in his works, unless in his omnipotence and goodness, he is able to bring forth good out of evil.”[4]
Did God the Father possibly desire the death of his Son in order to draw good out of it? No, he simply permitted human freedom to take its course, making it serve, however, his own purposes and not those of human beings. This is also the case for natural disasters like earthquakes and plagues. He does not bring them about. He has given nature a kind of freedom as well, qualitatively different of course than that of human beings, but still a form of freedom—freedom to evolve according to its own laws of development. He did not create a world as a programmed clock whose movements could all be anticipated. It is what some call “chance” but the Bible calls instead “the wisdom of God.”
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The other positive fruit of the present health crisis is the feeling of solidarity. When, in human memory, have the people of all nations ever felt themselves so united, so equal, so less in conflict than at this moment of pain? Never so much as now have we experienced the truth of the words of a great Italian poet: “Peace, you peoples! Too deep is the mystery of the prostrate earth.”[5] We have forgotten about building walls. The virus knows no borders. In an instant it has broken down all the barriers and distinctions of race, nation, religion, wealth, and power. We should not revert to that prior time when this moment has passed. As the Holy Father has exhorted us, we should not waste this opportunity. Let us not allow so much pain, so many deaths, and so much heroic engagement on the part of health workers to have been in vain. Returning to the way things were is the “recession” of which we should have the most fear.
“They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; One nation shall not raise the sword against another, nor shall they train for war again.” (Is 2:4)
This is the moment to put into practice something of the prophecy of Isaiah whose fulfillment humanity has long been waiting for. Let us say “Enough!” to the tragic race toward arms. Say it with all your might, you young people, because it is above all your destiny that is at stake. Let us devote the unlimited resources committed to weapons to the goals that we now realize are most necessary and urgent: health, hygiene, food, the poverty fight, stewardship of creation. Let us leave to the next generation a world poorer in goods and money, if need be, but richer in its humanity.
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The word of God tells us the first thing we should do at times like these is to cry out to God. He himself is the one who puts on people’s lips the words to cry out to him, at times harsh words and almost of accusation: “Awake! Why do you sleep, O Lord? / Rise up! Do not reject us forever! . . . Rise up, help us! / Redeem us in your mercy” (Ps 44, 24, 27). “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” (Mk 4:38).
Does God perhaps like to be petitioned so that he can grant his benefits? Can our prayer perhaps make God change his plans? No, but there are things, St. Matthew explains, that God has decided to grant us as the fruit both of his grace and of our prayer, almost as though sharing with his creatures the credit for the benefit received.[6] God is the one who prompts us to do it: “Seek and you will find,” Jesus said; “knock and the door will be opened to you” (Mt 7:7).
When the Israelites were bitten by poisonous serpents in the desert, God commanded Moses to lift up a serpent of bronze on a pole, and whoever looked at it would not die. Jesus appropriated this symbol to himself when he told Nicodemus, “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life” (Jn 3:14-15). We too at this moment have been bitten by an invisible, poisonous “serpent.” Let us gaze upon the one who was “lifted up” for us on the cross. Let us adore him on behalf of ourselves and of the whole human race. The one who looks on him with faith does not die. And if that person dies, it will be to enter eternal life.
“After three days I will rise”, Jesus had foretold (cf. Mt 9:31). We too, after these days that we hope will be short, shall rise and come out of the tombs our homes have become. Not however to return to the former life like Lazarus, but to a new life, like Jesus. A more fraternal, more human, more Christian life!
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Footnotes:
[1] Moralia in Job, XX, 1. [2] John Paul II, Salvifici doloris [On the Meaning of Human Suffering], n. 23. [3] https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/coronavirus-a-spiritual-message-from-brooklyn (Yaakov Yitzhak Biderman). [4] See St. Augustine, Enchiridion 11, 3; PL 40, 236. [5] Giovanni Pascoli, “I due fanciulli” [“The Two Children”]. [6] See St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologicae, II-IIae, q. 83, a. 2
Vatican City, Apr 9, 2020 / 01:30 pm (CNA).- Pope Francis recalled the priests who have lost their lives during the coronavirus crisis as he offered the Mass of the Lord’s Supper in a nearly empty St. Peter’s Basilica.
“I cannot allo… […]
Washington D.C., Apr 9, 2020 / 01:00 pm (CNA).- A Maltese court has authorized the seizure of assets belonging to the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR), commonly called “the Vatican Bank.” The garnishment order was issued last month, al… […]
Vatican City, Apr 9, 2020 / 07:00 am (CNA).- The Vatican has thanked Chinese organizations for donating medical supplies to help it combat the coronavirus.
The Holy See press office said April 9 that the Vatican Pharmacy had received donations from Chinese groups including the Red Cross Society of China and the Jinde Charities Foundation of Hebei Province.
The press office hailed the gifts as “an expression of the solidarity of the Chinese people and Catholic communities with those involved in the relief of those affected by COVID-19 and the prevention of the current coronavirus epidemic.”
It continued: “The Holy See appreciates this generous gesture and expresses its gratitude to the bishops, the Catholic faithful, the institutions and all other Chinese citizens for this humanitarian initiative, assuring them of the esteem and prayers of the Holy Father.”
In February, the Vatican announced that it had sent thousands of face masks to China to help limit the spread of the coronavirus. It had donated between 600,000 to 700,000 masks to the Chinese provinces of Hubei, Zhejiang, and Fujian since Jan. 27, the Global Times, a Chinese state-run news outlet, reported Feb. 3.
The medical supplies were donated as part of a joint initiative of the Office of Papal Charities and the Missionary Center of the Chinese Church in Italy, in partnership with the Vatican Pharmacy.
China broke off diplomatic relations with the Holy See in 1951, two years after the communist revolution resulted in the creation of the People’s Republic of China.
The Vatican signed a provisional agreement with China in 2018 concerning the appointment of Catholic bishops. The text of the agreement has never been published.
On Feb. 14 this year, Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Holy See’s Secretary for Relations with States, met Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi in Munich, Germany. The encounter was the highest level meeting between officials from the two states since 1949.
The Red Cross Society of China, founded in Shanghai in 1904, is the national Red Cross Society in the People’s Republic of China.
The Jinde Charities Foundation is a Catholic organization registered in Shijiazhuang, the capital of Hebei province.
Vatican City, Apr 8, 2020 / 02:45 pm (CNA).- Fr. Miguel Ángel Tábet is believed to be the first priest to die of the coronavirus in Rome. Two other priests living in the same residence of Opus Dei in Rome remain hospitalized.
The 78-year… […]
Vatican City, Apr 8, 2020 / 10:30 am (CNA).- The first cardinal known to have tested positive for coronavirus has released a message from hospital, thanking his flock for their prayers and saying he is recovering from the disease.
Writing from the Gemelli Hospital in Rome, where he was hospitalized March 30, Cardinal Angelo De Donatis said: “Thank God I’m healing and I should be discharged soon.”
The cardinal, who is vicar general of Rome diocese, wrote in an April 8 message that he felt “supported and consoled by the prayers of all of you who have been close to me” during his ordeal.
He said: “All my gratitude goes to the doctors, the nurses and all the medical staff of the Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic who are caring for me and many other patients, with great competence and demonstrating a deep humanity, animated by the sentiments of the Good Samaritan.”
He also thanked the pope for his prayers and support. While Pope Francis is the Bishop of Rome, the day-to-day leadership of the diocese is provided for by De Donatis, who enjoys broad vicarious authority delegated by the pope.
Referring to Matthew 26:17, where the disciples ask Jesus where they should make preparations for him to eat the Passover meal, the cardinal said: “Meditating on this question, in light of the experience of the disease, I seem to have clearly perceived how none of us can really prepare for Easter without recognizing that, in the first place, it is Jesus who is eagerly yearning to ‘do Easter’ with us.”
“We only have to welcome the grace and enter with our life into the Paschal Mystery of Christ, ‘who died for our sins and rose again for our justification’. Let us allow the Lord, through His merciful love, to heal our infirmity and to console the sorrows we carry in our hearts.”
Vatican City, Apr 8, 2020 / 03:30 am (CNA).- Meditating on Christ’s Passion can help us as we struggle with questions about God and suffering during the coronavirus crisis, Pope Francis said at his general audience Wednesday.
Speaking via livestream due to the pandemic, the pope urged Catholics April 8 to spend time in Holy Week sitting in silent prayer before a crucifix and reading the Gospels.
At a time when churches around the world are closed, “this will be for us, so to speak, like a great domestic liturgy,” he said.
The suffering unleashed by the virus raises questions about God, the pope noted. “What is He doing in the face of our pain? Where is He when everything goes wrong? Why does He not solve our problems quickly?”
“The account of the Passion of Jesus, which accompanies us in these holy days, is helpful to us,” he said.
The people acclaimed Jesus as he entered Jerusalem. But they rejected him when he was crucified because they had expected “a powerful and triumphant Messiah,” rather than a gentle and humble figure preaching a message of mercy.
Today we still project our false expectations on to God, the Pope said.
“But the Gospel tells us that God is not like that. He is different and we could not know Him with our own strength. That is why he came close to us, he came to meet us and precisely at Easter he revealed himself completely.”
“Where? On the cross. There we learn the features of God’s face. Because the cross is God’s pulpit. It will do us good to look at the Crucified One in silence and see who our Lord is.”
The cross shows us that Jesus is “He who does not point the finger at anyone, but opens his arms wide to everyone”, the pope said. Christ does not treat us as strangers, but rather takes our sins upon himself.
“To free ourselves from prejudices about God, let us look at the Crucified One,” he advised. “And then we open the Gospel.”
Some might object that they prefer a “strong and powerful God,” the pope said.
“But the power of this world passes, while love remains. Only love guards the life we have, because it embraces our frailties and transforms them. It is the love of God who at Easter healed our sin with his forgiveness, who made death a passage of life, who changed our fear into trust, our anguish into hope. Easter tells us that God can turn everything to good, that with Him we can truly trust that all will be well.”
“That is why on Easter morning we are told: ‘Do not be afraid!’ [cf. Matthew 28:5]. And the distressing questions about evil do not suddenly vanish, but find in the Risen One the solid foundation that allows us not to be shipwrecked.”
At morning Mass April 8, in the chapel of his Vatican residence, the Casa Santa Marta, Pope Francis prayed for those who were taking advantage of others during the coronavirus crisis.
“Today we pray for people who in this time of pandemic exploit the needy,” he said. “They take advantage of the needs of others and sell them: the mafia, loan sharks and many others. May the Lord touch their hearts and convert them.”
On the Wednesday of Holy Week, the Church focuses on Judas, the pope said. He encouraged Catholics not only to ponder the life of the disciple who betrayed Jesus, but also to “think of the little Judas that each one of us has inside of us”.
“Each of us has the ability to betray, to sell, to choose for our own interest,” he said. “Each one of us has the possibility of letting ourselves be attracted by the love of money, or goods, or future well-being.”
After Mass, the pope presided at Adoration and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, leading those watching around the world in a prayer of spiritual communion.
Vatican City, Apr 7, 2020 / 02:35 pm (CNA).- During the coronavirus pandemic, saving the elderly must be just as important as saving others, the Vatican’s Laity, Family, and Life dicastery has said.
In an April 4 statement, the dicastery said “despite the complexity of the situation we live in, it is necessary to clarify that saving the lives of the elderly who live within residential homes or who are alone or sick, is a priority as much as saving any other person.”
“Faced with the scenario of a generation hit so severely, we have a common responsibility, which stems from the awareness of the invaluable value of every human life and from gratitude to our fathers and grandparents,” it continued.
The statement noted that in Italy, one of the epicenters of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is estimated that 80% of the people who have so far lost their lives to the virus were over the age of 70.
As of Tuesday, over 17,000 people have died in Italy from the coronavirus, with victims having an average age of 78 and a median age of 80. According to Johns Hopkins University, more than 78,000 people have died from COVID-19 worldwide.
The dicastery warned that loneliness is an added threat to the elderly; and said that loneliness could be the “previous pathology” which weakens an older person and makes the virus “more lethal” for him or her.
“It is no coincidence that we are witnessing the death, in terrible proportions and ways, of
many people who live far from their families, and in truly debilitating and disheartening conditions of solitude,” the laity office underlined.
The dicastery said it is important for the Church to serve the elderly and find ways to combat loneliness in this difficult time, especially when in-person visits are not possible.
It praised those who are making calls and sending video messages and letters to those who are alone, as well as the parishes which are delivering food and necessities to those who cannot go out.
It also noted that “almost everywhere, priests continue to visit homes to dispense the sacraments.”
“But the gravity of the moment calls all of us to do more,” the statement urged.
The dicastery said “as individuals and as local churches, we can do much for the elderly: pray for them, cure the disease of loneliness, activate solidarity networks and much more.”
This generational impact calls the Church to “a common responsibility,” the laity office said, underlining that the coronavirus “affects the future of our ecclesial communities and our societies because, as Pope Francis recently said, ‘the elderly are the present and tomorrow of the Church.’”
“So let us join in prayer for grandparents and the elderly around the world. Let us gather around them with our thoughts and hearts, and when possible, let’s act, so that they are not alone,” the statement concluded.
Vatican City, Apr 7, 2020 / 05:15 am (CNA).- The Vatican has welcomed the Australian High Court’s decision to quash Cardinal George Pell’s sexual abuse conviction.
A statement from the Holy See press office, issued April 7, said: &quo… […]
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