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Illustration: Jesus heals the leper by Alezandre bida 1875
CELEBRATION OF RECONCILIATION”
24 HOURS FOR THE LORD”
HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS
Parish Church of St. Pius V in Rome – Friday, 8 March 2024
We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death,
so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father,
we too might walk in newness of life (Romans 6:4)
“We may walk in newness of life” (Rom 6:4): this is what the Apostle Paul wrote to the first Christians of this Church in Rome. But what is the new life of which he speaks?
It is the life that is born of Baptism, which immerses us in the death and resurrection of Jesus and makes us forever children of God, children of the resurrection destined for eternal life, oriented to the things that are above.
It is life that leads us forward in our truest identity, that of being beloved children of the Father, so that every sadness and obstacle, every fatigue and tribulation cannot prevail over this wonderful reality that founds us: we are children of the good God.
We have heard that St. Paul associates new life with a verb: to walk.
Therefore, the new life, which began in Baptism, is a journey.
And there’s no retirement in that!
No one on this path retires, we always move forward.
And after so many steps on the journey, perhaps we have lost sight of the holy life that flows within us: day after day, immersed in a repetitive rhythm, caught up in a thousand things, dazed by so many messages, we look everywhere for satisfactions and novelties, stimuli and positive feelings, but we forget that there is already a new life flowing within us and that, like embers under the ashes, it is waiting to blaze and shed light on everything.
When we are busy with so many things, do we think of the Holy Spirit who is within us and leading us?
It happens to me so many times that I don’t think about it, and it’s bad.
Being like that, caught up in so many travails, makes us forget the true journey we are on in the new life.
We have to look for the embers under the ashes
The ashes, that has settled on the heart and hides the beauty of our soul from view, conceals the embers.
Then God, who, in the new life, is our Father, appears to us as a master.
Instead of relying on Him, we bargain with Him;
Instead of loving Him, we fear Him.
And the others, instead of being brothers and sisters, as children of the same Father, seem like obstacles and adversaries to us.
There is a bad habit: that of turning our fellow travellers into adversaries. And so many times we do this. Our neighbor’s faults seem exaggerated to us and their merits hidden; how often we are inflexible with others and indulgent with ourselves! We feel an unstoppable force to do the evil we would like to avoid.
This is everyone’s problem. Even St. Paul writes: “I do not do the good that I want, but the evil that I do not want” (7:19). He too was a sinner, and we many times do the evil we ought not to do.
In short, having clouded God’s face, having blurred those of our brothers and sisters, having blurred the greatness we carry within, we remain on our way.
We need a new signpost, we need a change of pace, a new direction to help us find the way of Baptism, We need to renew our original beauty that is there under the ashes, we need to renew the sense of moving forward. How often do we get tired of walking and lose the sense of moving forward?
Let’s stay calm, or not even calm, but still.
Brothers and sisters, what is the way to resume the journey of new life?
For this Lent and to resume the journey, what is the way?
It is the way of God’s forgiveness.
Put this in your mind and heart: God never tires of forgiving.
Have you heard that ? Are you able to repeat it with me? Together, all of us: God never tires of forgiving.
But what’s the drama? That we are the ones who get tired of asking for forgiveness!!
But He never tires of forgiving. Let us not forget this.
And divine forgiveness does just that. It makes us new, as if we had just been baptized.
He cleanses us within, making us return to the condition of baptismal rebirth.
He makes the fresh waters of grace flow again in the heart, dried up by sadness and dusted with sins.
The Lord removes the ashes from the embers of the soul, cleanses those interior stains that prevent us from trusting in God, from embracing our brothers and sisters, from loving ourselves.
He forgives everything. “Oh Father, I have a sin that surely is unforgivable.”
Listen: God forgives everything, because He never tires of forgiving.
God’s forgiveness transforms us inside: it gives us new life and a new sight.
It is no coincidence that in the Gospel we have heard, Jesus proclaims: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Mt 5:8).
We prepare our eyes to see God. One sees God only if the heart is purified: purify the heart in order to see God. But who can do this purification?
Our commitment is necessary, but it is not enough; it is not enough, we are weak, we cannot; only God knows and heals the heart.
Put this good in your mind: only God is able to know and heal the heart. Only He can free it from evil.
For this to happen, we need to bring our open and contrite hearts to him; to imitate the leper in the Gospel, who prays to him thus: “If you are willing, you can cleanse me!” (Mk 1:40).
That’s nice! “If you want, you can change me inside, you can purify me.”
This is a beautiful prayer, and we can repeat it together, here, all of us.
Together: “Lord, if you will, you can cleanse me.”
Another time: “Lord, if you will, you can cleanse me.”
And now, in silence, let each one tell it to the Lord, looking at his own sins.
Look at your sins, look at the ugly things that you have inside and that you have done.
Silently say to the Lord, “Lord, if you will, you can cleanse me.”
And He can. Someone thinks: “But this sin is too bad, the Lord will not be able to…”.
The Lord forgives everything, the Lord never tires of forgiving.
Remember? Repeat it: “The Lord never tires of forgiving.”
All together: “The Lord never tires of forgiving.”
The Lord wants this, because he wants us to be renewed, free, light inside, happy and on the move, not parked on the roads of life.
He knows how easy it is for us to trip, fall, and fall to the ground, and he wants to get us back up.
I saw a beautiful painting, where there is the Lord who bends down to lift us up.
And this is what the Lord does every time we approach Confession.
Let us not sadden him, let us not postpone the encounter with his forgiveness, because only if we are put back on our feet by him can we resume the journey and see the defeat of our sin, erased forever.
Because sin is always a defeat, but He conquers sin, He is victory.
Moreover, “at the very moment in which the sinner is forgiven, seized by God and restored by grace, sin – wonder of wonders! – it becomes the place where God comes into contact with man. […]
In this way God makes himself known by forgiving” (A. Louf, Under the Guidance of the Spirit, Magnano 1990, 68-69).
“I know God by studying catechesis…” But you don’t know Him only with your mind.
You will know God who forgives when your heart is repentant and you go to Him, showing your dirty heart. “Go in peace, your sins are forgiven.” God makes himself known by forgiving.
And “the sinner, looking into the abyss of his own sin, discovers for his part the infinity of mercy”.
This is the beginning of the new life. It began in Baptism. It begins again with forgiveness.
Let us not renounce God’s forgiveness in the sacrament of Reconciliation.
It is not a practice of devotion, but it is the foundation of Christian existence.
It is not a question of knowing how to say sins well. It is a question of recognizing ourselves as sinners and of throwing ourselves into the arms of Jesus crucified in order to be freed.
It is not a moralistic gesture, but it is the resurrection of the heart.
The Risen Lord raises us up, all of us. Let us therefore go and receive God’s forgiveness and we, who administer it, may feel that we are dispensers of the joy of the Father who finds his lost son; we feel that our hands, placed on the heads of the faithful, are those pierced with the mercy of Jesus, who transforms the wounds of sin into channels of mercy.
And we, who act as confessors, feel that the “forgiveness and peace” we proclaim are the Holy Spirit’s caress on the hearts of the faithful.
Dear brothers, let us forgive!
Dear brother priests, let us forgive, let us always forgive like God who never tires of forgiving, and we will find ourselves again.
Let us always grant forgiveness to those who ask for it and help those who are afraid to approach the sacrament of healing and joy with confidence.
Let us put God’s forgiveness back at the centre of the Church!
And you, dear brother priests, do not ask too much: let them say, and you forgive everything.
Don’t go investigate, no.
And now, as we prepare to receive the new life, let us confess to the Lord that there is so much in us that is old, that is ugly….
The leprosy of sin has stained our beauty and so we say: Jesus, if you want, you can purify me! All together: “Jesus, if you want, you can cleanse me.”
From thinking that I don’t need you every day: [all] Jesus, if you want, you can cleanse me!
By living peacefully with my duplicity, without seeking in your forgiveness the way to freedom: [all] Jesus, if you wish, you can purify me!
When good intentions are not followed by deeds, when I postpone prayer and the encounter with you: [all] Jesus, if you wish, you can purify me!
When I come to terms with evil, with dishonesty, with falsehood, when I judge others,
I despise them and I spread about them, recriminating everyone and everything:
[all] Jesus, if you want, you can cleanse me!
And when I am content not to do evil, but do not do good by serving in the Church and in society:
[all] Jesus, if you will, you can cleanse me!
Yes, Jesus, I believe you can cleanse me, I believe I need your forgiveness.
Jesus, renew me and I will walk again in a new life. [all] Jesus, if you want, you can cleanse me.
