Lenten Reflections with Pope Francis

Lenten Reflections with Pope Francis

Lent is a season to devote ourselves more to meditating on God’s great love for us, His sacrifice on the cross, and our own humility and desire to grow closer to Christ. In that spirit, we offer this collection of daily reflections. This devotional features excerpts of the Scripture readings for each day from the lectionary, and reflections from the Holy Father’s writings, homilies, messages and General Audiences. We hope it will be a source of inspiration and serve as a welcome companion on the journey toward Easter.

Lenten

Reflections with Pope Francis

ord Jesus, we lift our voices to you, confident that you will hear our prayer… Accompany us on our journey, reassure us in our doubts, console our hurt feelings, give us the courage to love, bestow the grace of forgiveness…

Lord Jesus, crucified and risen from the dead, may we not let ourselves be robbed of the hope of a new humanity, of new heavens and a new earth, where you will wipe away the tears from every eye, where pain and mourning will be no more, for the old things will have passed away and we will be one great family in your home of love and peace. Amen.

— From the opening prayer for the Way of the Cross led by Pope Francis, Good Friday, 2022

Even now, says the Lord, return to me with your whole heart, with fasting, and weeping, and mourning; Rend your hearts, not your garments, and return to the Lord, your God. For gracious and merciful is he, slow to anger, rich in kindness, and relenting in punishment. (Jl 2:12)

ith its invitations to conversion, Lent comes providentially to awaken us, to rouse us from torpor, from the risk of moving forward by inertia. The exhortation which the Lord addresses to us through the prophet Joel is strong and clear: “Return to me with all your heart” (Jl 2:12). Why must we return to God? Because something is not right in us, not right in society, in the church and we need to change, to give it a new direction. And this is called needing to convert! Once again Lent comes to make its prophetic appeal, to remind us that it is possible to create something new within ourselves and around us, simply because God is faithful, always faithful, for he cannot deny himself, he continues to be rich in goodness and mercy, and he is always ready to forgive and start afresh. With this filial confidence, let us set out on the journey!

— Homily, Ash Wednesday, 2014

Then Jesus said to all, “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. What profit is there for one to gain the whole world yet lose or forfeit himself?” (Lk 9: 23-25)

he Christian way is precisely this way of humility, of meekness, of gentleness. Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it. Jesus repeats this idea elsewhere in the Gospel. Remember when he speaks about the grain of wheat: unless the grain dies, it does bear much fruit (cf Jn 12:24). Let us think about Jesus who goes before us, who guides us along the way. This is our joy and this is our fruitfulness: to travel with Jesus. Other joys are not fruitful; as the Lord says, they look to gaining the whole world, but lead to ruin and to losing and forfeiting oneself. At the beginning of Lent, let us ask the Lord to teach us a little of this Christian way of service, joy, self-emptying and fruitfulness with him, as he wills.

— Homily, 6 March 2014

This, rather, is the fasting that I wish: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; Setting free the oppressed breaking every yoke; Sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless; Clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own. Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your wound shall quickly be healed; Your vindication shall go before you, and the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer, you shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am!

(Is 58: 6-9)

asting, experienced as a form of selfdenial, helps those who undertake it in simplicity of heart to rediscover God’s gift and to recognize that, created in his image and likeness, we find our fulfilment in him. In embracing the experience of poverty, those who fast make themselves poor with the poor and accumulate the treasure of a love both received and shared. In this way, fasting helps us to love God and our neighbor, inasmuch as love, as Saint Thomas Aquinas teaches, is a movement outwards that focuses our attention on others and considers them as one with ourselves (cf. Fratelli tutti, 93).

— Message for Lent 2021

Jesus saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the customs post. He said to him, “Follow me.” And leaving everything behind, he got up and followed him. (Lk 5:27)

ike the tax collector Matthew, each of us relies on the grace of the Lord despite our sins. We are all sinners, we all have sins. By calling Matthew, Jesus shows sinners that he does not look at their past, at their social condition, at external conventions, but rather opens up a new future for them. I once heard a beautiful saying: “There is no saint without a past and there is no sinner without a future.” This is what Jesus does. There is no saint without a past nor a sinner without a future. It is enough to respond to the invitation with a humble and sincere heart.

— General Audience, 13 April 2016

Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days, to be tempted by the devil. (Lk 4:1)

uring the Season of Lent, the Holy Spirit drives us too, like Jesus, to enter the desert. It is not, as we have seen, a physical place, but rather an existential dimension in which to be silent and listen to the word of God, “so that a true conversion might be effected in us” (cf. Collect, First Sunday of Lent, B). Do not be afraid of the desert, seek out more moments of prayer, of silence, in order to enter into ourselves. Do not be afraid. We are called to walk in God’s footsteps.

— Angelus, 21 February 2021

Gustave Doré, The Temptation of Jesus, 1866.

Then the righteous will answer him and say, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?

When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you?

When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?” And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.”

(Mt. 25: 37-40)

he witness that the world expects from us is mainly that of making visible the mercy that God has for us, through service to the poor, the sick, those who have left their homeland in order to seek a better future for themselves and for loved ones. In being at the service to those most in need, we have the experience of already being united: it is the mercy of God that unites us. Dear young people, I encourage you to be witnesses of mercy. While theologians carry on the dialogue in the doctrinal field, keep looking persistently for opportunities to encounter one another, to know each other better, to pray together and offer help to each other and to all those who are in need.

— Address to Participants in Pilgrimage of Lutherans, 13 October 2016

“If you forgive men their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions.”

(Mt. 6:15)

esus replaced the law of retaliation — what you have done to me, I will do to you in return — with the law of love: what God has done for me, I shall do for you in return! Let us consider today, in this most beautiful week of Easter, whether I am able to forgive. And if I do not feel I can, I must ask the Lord to give me the grace to forgive, because knowing how to forgive is a grace. God gives every Christian the grace to write a story of good in the life of his or her brothers and sisters, especially of those who have done something regrettable or wrong. With a word, an embrace, a smile, we can pass on to others the most precious thing we have received. What is the most precious thing we have received? Forgiveness, which we too must be able to give to others.

— General Audience, 24 April 2019

The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: “Set out for the great city of Nineveh, and announce to it the message that I will tell you.” So Jonah made ready and went to Nineveh, according to the Lord’s bidding. (Jon 3:2)

he Lord sets out on a journey: to Nineveh, to Galilee, to Lima, to Trujillo and Puerto Maldonado… the Lord comes here. He sets out to enter into our individual, concrete histories … Yes, here in Lima, or wherever you are living, in the routine of your daily life and work, in the education to hope that you impart to your children, amid your aspirations and anxieties; within the privacy of the home and the deafening noise of our streets. It is there, along the dusty paths of history, that the Lord comes to meet each of you.

— Homily in Lima, Peru, 21 January 2018

Jesus said to his disciples: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” (Mt. 7:7)

od’s mercy is not only forgiving — we all know this — but being generous and giving more and more ... Perhaps in prayer we ask for this and that, and he always gives us more! Always, always more … Jesus is the companion on the journey who gives us what we ask; the Father who cares for us and loves us; and the Holy Spirit who is the gift, is that “more” that the Father gives, for which our conscience does not dare to hope.

— Homily, 9 October 2014

Jesus said to his disciples:

“If you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift.” (Mt 5: 23-24)

ove of neighbor is a fundamental attitude that Jesus speaks of, and he says that our relationship with God cannot be honest if we are not willing to make peace with our neighbor. He says: “So if you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift” (v. 23-24). Therefore we are called to reconcile with our neighbor before showing our devotion to the Lord in prayer.

— Angelus, 16 February 2014

Jesus said to his disciples:

“You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.

(Mt 5:43-45)

ove your enemies. We do well today, at Mass and afterwards, to repeat these words to ourselves and apply them to those who treat us badly, who annoy us, whom we find hard to accept, who trouble our serenity. Love your enemies. We also do well to ask ourselves: “What am I really concerned about in this life? About my enemies, or about those who dislike me? Or about loving?” Do not worry about the malice of others, about those who think ill of you. Instead, begin to disarm your heart out of love for Jesus. For those who love God have no enemies in their hearts.

— Homily in Bari, Italy, 23 February 2020

Jesus took Peter, John, and James and went up the mountain to pray. While he was praying his face changed in appearance and his clothing became dazzling white. And behold, two men were conversing with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his exodus that he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem.

(Lk 9:28-31)

he Transfiguration of Christ shows us the Christian perspective of suffering … By revealing his glory in this way, Jesus ensures that the cross, the trials, the difficulties with which we struggle, are resolved and overcome in Easter. Thus, this Lent, let us also go up the mountain with Jesus! But in what way? With prayer. Let us climb the mountain with prayer: silent prayer, heartfelt prayer, prayer that always seeks the Lord. Let us pause for some time in reflection, a little each day, let us fix our inner gaze on his countenance and let us allow his light to permeate us and shine in our life.

— Angelus, 17 March 2019

of Lent

Cherubino Alberti (Zaccaria Mattia), The Transfiguration with Christ flanked by two saints and with the Apostles below,

Jesus said to his disciples:

“Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven. Give and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.” (Lk 6:36-38)

ou can receive far more if you have a big heart! A big heart doesn’t get entangled in other peoples’ lives, it doesn’t condemn but forgives and forgets as ‘God has forgiven and forgotten my sins.’ In order to be merciful, we need to call upon the Lord’s help, since ‘it is a grace.’ And we also need to ‘recognize our sins and be ashamed of them’ and forgive and forget the offenses of others. Men and women who are merciful have big, big hearts: they always excuse others and think more of their own sins. Were someone to say to them: “But do you see what so and so did?,” they respond in mercy saying: “But I have enough to be concerned over with all I have done.” If all of us, all peoples, all families, all quarters had this attitude, how much peace there would be in the world, how much peace there would be in our hearts, for mercy brings us peace! Let us always remember: who am I to judge? To be ashamed of oneself and to open and expand one’s heart, may the Lord give us this grace!

Jesus spoke to the crowds and his disciples, saying, “Do not be called ‘Master;’ you have but one master, the Christ. The greatest among you must be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

(Mt 23:10-12)

od loves humility. God lifts up those who humble themselves; he lifts up those who serve … Today, then, let us ask ourselves, each one of us in our heart: how am I doing with humility? Do I seek to be recognized by others, to affirm myself and to be praised, or do I think rather about serving? Do I know how to listen … or do I want only to speak and receive attention? Do I know how to take a step back, defuse quarrels and arguments, or do I always want to stand out? Let us think about these questions: how am I doing with humility?

— Angelus, 15 August 2021

Jesus summoned them and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and the great ones make their authority over them felt. But it shall not be so among you. Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave. Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

(Mt 20:25-28)

he way of service is the most effective antidote against the disease of seeking first place; it is the medicine for status seekers, this seeking first place, which infects many human contexts, and does not even spare Christians, the People of God, nor even the ecclesiastical hierarchy. Therefore, as disciples of Christ, let us receive this Gospel passage as a call to conversion, in order to witness with courage and generosity a church that bows at the feet of the least, in order to serve them with love and simplicity.

— Angelus, 21 October 2018

Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose hope is the Lord. They are like a tree planted beside the waters that stretches out its roots to the stream: It fears not heat when it comes, its leaves stay green; In the year of drought it shows no distress, but still produces fruit. (Jer 17:7-8)

invite everyone to renewed hope, for hope

“speaks to us of something deeply rooted in every human heart, independently of our circumstances and historical conditioning. Hope speaks to us of a thirst, an aspiration, a longing for a life of fulfillment, a desire to achieve great things, things that fill our heart and lift our spirit to lofty realities like truth, goodness and beauty, justice and love… Hope is bold; it can look beyond personal convenience, the petty securities and compensations which limit our horizon, and it can open us up to grand ideals that make life more beautiful and worthwhile.”

— Encyclical, Fratelli tutti, 2020

of Lent

Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people: “Therefore, I say to you, the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit.” When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they knew that he was speaking about them. And although they were attempting to arrest him, they feared the crowds, for they regarded him as a prophet. (Mt 21: 43-46)

n order to love, we need to be stripped of all that leads us astray and makes us withdraw into ourselves and thus fail to bear fruit. Let us ask the Father, then, to prune our prejudices with regard to others, and the worldly attachments that stand in the way of full unity with all his children. Thus, purified in love, we will be able to be less concerned about the worldly obstacles and stumbling stones from the past, which nowadays distract us from the Gospel.

— Homily, Vespers, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, 25 January 2021

of Lent

Solemnity of St. Joseph

The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home. (Mt 1:20-24)

ust as God told Joseph: “Son of David, do not be afraid!” (Mt 1:20), so he seems to tell us: ‘Do not be afraid!’ We need to set aside all anger and disappointment, and to embrace the way things are, even when they do not turn out as we wish. Not with mere resignation but with hope and courage. In this way, we become open to a deeper meaning. Our lives can be miraculously reborn if we find the courage to live them in accordance with the Gospel. It does not matter if everything seems to have gone wrong or some things can no longer be fixed. God can make flowers spring up from stony ground.

— Apostolic Letter on St. Joseph, 8 December 2020

Jesus told them this parable: “There once was a person who had a fig tree planted in his orchard, and when he came in search of fruit on it but found none, he said to the gardener, ‘For three years now I have come in search of fruit on this fig tree but have found none. So cut it down. Why should it exhaust the soil?’ He said to him in reply, ‘Sir, leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; it may bear fruit in the future. If not you can cut it down.’” (Lk 13: 6-9)

nfortunately, each of us strongly resembles the tree that, over many years, has repeatedly shown that it’s infertile. But, fortunately for us, Jesus is like a farmer who, with limitless patience, still obtains a concession for the fruitless vine. “Let it alone this year” — he said to the owner — “we shall see if it bears fruit next year.” A “year” of grace: the period of Christ’s ministry, the time of the church before his glorious return, an interval of our life, marked by a certain number of Lenten seasons, which are offered to us as occasions of repentance and salvation. The invincible patience of Jesus! Have you thought about the patience of God? Have you ever thought as well of his limitless concern for sinners? How it should lead us to impatience with ourselves! It’s never too late to convert, never. God’s patience awaits us until the last moment.

— Angelus, 28 February 2016

Jesus said to the people in the synagogue at Nazareth: “Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place.”

(Lk 4:24)

esus says that no prophet is accepted here because you have no need of one, you are too self-assured. The people whom Jesus had before him were so secure in their supposed “faith,” they were so secure in their observance of the commandments, that they had no need of any other form of salvation. This inner attitude reveals the tragedy of observing the commandments without faith: I am saved only because I go to synagogue every Sabbath, and because I seek to obey the commandments; and who is this to come and tell me that those who are marginalized, the leper and the widow, are better than I? Yet, take care because if you do not feel that you are on the margins, you will not be saved! This is humility, the path of humility: to feel so marginalized that one feels one’s need for the Lord’s salvation for it is he alone who saves and not our observance of the precepts.

— Homily, 24 March 2014

Peter approached Jesus and asked him, “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him?

As many as seven times?”

Jesus answered, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times.” (Mt 18:21-22)

t is difficult to understand the mystery of forgiveness because it is a mystery. Why should I have to forgive, if justice allows me to carry on and ask that justice do what it must? The answer comes from the church, which today allows us to enter into this mystery of forgiveness which is God’s great work of mercy. The church echoes the Gospel passage and explains what that “seventy times seven” means. It means that we must always forgive. Indeed, I can forgive only if I feel forgiven. If you have no consciousness of being forgiven, you will never be able to forgive, ever. Let us ask the Lord today for the grace to understand this “seventy times seven.” After all, if the Lord has given me so much, who am I not to forgive?

— Homily, 21 March 2017

Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place. (Mt 5:17-18)

y accepting the Law of God in our heart, one understands that, when one does not love one’s neighbor, to some extent one kills oneself and others, because hatred, rivalry and division kill the fraternal charity that is the basis of interpersonal relationships … By accepting the Law of God in our heart one understands that desires must be guided, because one cannot obtain everything one desires, and it is not good to give in to selfish and possessive feelings. When one accepts the Law of God in one’s heart, one understands that one must give up a lifestyle of broken promises, as well as move from the prohibition of perjury to the decision not to swear at all, behaving sincerely to everyone. And Jesus is aware that it is not easy to live the Commandments in such an all-encompassing way. That is why he offers us the help of his love: he came into the world not only to fulfil the Law, but also to give us his grace, so that we can do God’s will, loving him and our brothers and sisters. We can do everything, everything, with the grace of God!

— Angelus, 16 February 2020

Jesus said to them,“Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.”

(Lk 11:23)

oday, on this Lenten day, we can ask ourselves: “Do I listen to the voice of the Lord, or do I do what I want, whatever I please?” The Lord is clear with the people who have lost their faithfulness: “Those who aren’t with me are against me.” One could ask: “Isn’t there a way to compromise, a little here and a little there?”

No, either you are on the path of love, or you’re on the path of hypocrisy. Either you let yourself be loved by the mercy of God, or you do what you want, according to your heart which grows harder, each time, on this path. There is no third path of compromise.

— Homily, 12 March 2015

of the Third Week of Lent

of Lent

Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord

Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.”

(Lk 1:38)

he Woman who said “yes,” who promptly welcomed the Angel’s invitation, also responds to our supplications; she hears our voices, even those that remain closed in our hearts that do not have the strength to be uttered but which God knows better than we ourselves do. She listens as Mother. Just like, and more than, every good mother, Mary protects us from danger, she is concerned about us even when we are focused on our own matters and lose a sense of the way, and endanger not only our health, but also our salvation. Mary is there, praying for us, praying for those who do not pray. Praying with us. Why? Because she is our Mother.

— General Audience, 24 March 2021

of Lent

Jesus said, “The tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’ I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

(Lk 18:13-14)

f God prefers humility it is not to dishearten us: rather, humility is the necessary condition to be raised by him, so as to experience the mercy that comes to fill our emptiness. If the prayer of the proud does not reach God’s heart, the humility of the poor opens it wide. God has a weakness for the humble ones. Before a humble heart, God opens his heart entirely. It is this humility that the Virgin Mary expresses in the Canticle of the Magnificat: “He has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden […] his mercy is on those who fear him from generation to generation.” Let her help us, our Mother, to pray with a humble heart. And we, let us repeat that beautiful prayer three times: “Oh God, be merciful to me a sinner.”

— General Audience, 1 June 2016

“While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him. His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son.’ But his father ordered his servants, ‘Quickly bring the finest robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Take the fattened calf and slaughter it. Then let us celebrate with a feast, because this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost, and has been found.’” (Lk 15:20-24)

hat tenderness! The father sees him at a distance: what does this mean? That the father had constantly gone to the balcony to look at the road to see if his son would return; that son who had misbehaved in many ways found the father there waiting for him. How beautiful is the father’s tenderness! The father’s mercy is overflowing, unconditional, and shows itself even before the son speaks. Certainly, the son knows he erred and acknowledges it: “I have sinned ... treat me as one of your hired servants.” These words crumble before the father’s forgiveness. The embrace and the kiss of his father makes him understand that he was always considered a son, in spite of everything. This teaching of Jesus is very important: our condition as children of God is the fruit of the love of the Father’s heart; it does not depend on our merits or on our actions, and thus no one can take it away, not even the devil! No one can take this dignity away.

— General Audience, 11 May 2016

Thus says the Lord: Lo, I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; The things of the past shall not be remembered or come to mind. (Is 65:17)

ent is a time of renewal for the whole church, for each community and every believer. Above all it is a “time of grace” (2 Cor 6:2). God does not ask of us anything that he himself has not first given us. “We love because he first has loved us” (1 Jn 4:19). He is not aloof from us. Each one of us has a place in his heart. He knows us by name, he cares for us and he seeks us out whenever we turn away from him. He is interested in each of us; his love does not allow him to be indifferent to what happens to us. Usually, when we are healthy and comfortable, we forget about others (something God the Father never does): we are unconcerned with their problems, their sufferings and the injustices they endure … Our heart grows cold. As long as I am relatively healthy and comfortable, I don’t think about those less well off. Today, this selfish attitude of indifference has taken on global proportions, to the extent that we can speak of a globalization of indifference. It is a problem which we, as Christians, need to confront. When the people of God are converted to his love, they find answers to the questions that history continually raises.

— Message for Lent, 2015

When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been ill for a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be well?” The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; while I am on my way, someone else gets down there before me.”

Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your mat, and walk.” Immediately the man became well, took up his mat, and walked. (Jn 5:6-9)

t is Lent, we must repent. One might say: “Father, there are so many sinners on the street: those who steal, those in the Roma camps ...” for example, “and we despise these people.” But such a person should be told: “And you? Who are you? Who are you, who close the door of your heart to a man, to a woman who wants to improve, to rejoin the People of God, because the Holy Spirit has stirred his or her heart?” Even today there are Christians who behave like the doctors of the law and “do the same thing they did with Jesus,” by objecting: “This one speaks heresy, this one cannot, this one goes against the discipline of the church, this one goes against the law.” And thus they close the doors to so many people. Let us ask the Lord today for conversion to the mercy of Jesus: only in this way will the law be fulfilled, because the law is to love God and neighbor, as ourselves.

— Daily Meditation, 17 March 2015

Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes in the one who sent me has eternal life and will not come to condemnation, but has passed from death to life.” (Jn 5:24)

ear brothers and sisters, let us not ignore God’s word. It is a love letter, written to us by the One who knows us best. In reading it, we again hear his voice, see his face and receive his Spirit. That word brings us close to God. Let us not keep it at arm’s length, but carry it with us always, in our pocket, on our phone. Let us give it a worthy place in our homes. Let us set the Gospel in a place where we can remember to open it daily, perhaps at the beginning and at the end of the day, so that amid all those words that ring in our ears, there may also be a few verses of the word of God that can touch our hearts. To be able to do this, let us ask the Lord for the strength to turn off the television and open the Bible, to turn off our cell phone and open the Gospel. It will make us feel God’s closeness to us and fill us with courage as we make our way through life.

— Homily, 24 January 2021

Moses implored the Lord, his God, saying, “Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, and how you swore to them by your own self, saying, ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky; and all this land that I promised, I will give your descendants as their perpetual heritage.’”

So the LORD relented in the punishment he had threatened to inflict on his people.

(Ex 32: 13-14)

ercy is always a gratuitous act of our heavenly Father, an unconditional and unmerited act of love. Consequently, we cannot risk opposing the full freedom of the love with which God enters into the life of every person. Mercy is this concrete action of love that, by forgiving, transforms and changes our lives. In this way, the divine mystery of mercy is made manifest. God is merciful; his mercy lasts forever. From generation to generation, it embraces all those who trust in him and it changes them, by bestowing a share in his very life.

— Apostolic Letter, Misericordia et misera, 20 November 2016

Jesus cried out in the temple area as he was teaching and said, “You know me and also know where I am from. Yet I did not come on my own, but the one who sent me, whom you do not know, is true.

I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.” So they tried to arrest him, but no one laid a hand upon him, because his hour had not yet come. (Jn 7:28-30)

od did not send his Son into the world to punish sinners, nor to destroy the wicked. Rather, they were invited to convert, so that, seeing the signs of divine goodness, they might rediscover their way back. As the psalm says: “If thou, O Lord, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared” (130 [129]:3-4) … We Christians believe in the God of Jesus Christ, and our desire is that of growing in the living experience of his mystery of love. Let us therefore commit ourselves not to allow any obstacle to hinder the Father’s merciful action, and let us ask for the gift of a great faith so that we too may become signs and instruments of mercy.

— General Audience, 7 September 2016

O Lord, my God, in you I take refuge; save me from all my pursuers and rescue me, Lest I become like the lion’s prey, to be torn to pieces, with no one to rescue me.

(Ps. 7:2-3)

od is not a distant and anonymous being: he is our refuge, the wellspring of our peace and tranquility. He is the rock of our salvation, to which we can cling with the certainty of not falling; one who clings to God never falls! He is our defense against the evil which is ever lurking. God is a great friend, ally, father to us, but we do not always realize it. We do not realize that we have a friend, an ally, a father who loves us, and we prefer to rely on immediate goods that we can touch, on contingent goods, forgetting and at times rejecting the supreme good, which is the paternal love of God. Feeling that he is our Father, in this epoch of orphanhood, is so important! Christian hope is extended to the future fulfillment of God’s promise and does not stop in the face of difficulty, because it is founded on God’s faithfulness, which never fails. He is steadfast; he is a faithful father; he is a faithful friend; he is a faithful ally.

— Angelus, 26 February 2017

He was left alone with the woman before him. Then Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they?

Has no one condemned you?”

She replied, “No one, sir.”

Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin any more.”

(Jn 8:9-11)

ear brothers and sisters, that woman represents all of us. We are sinners, meaning adulterers before God, betrayers of his fidelity. Her experience represents God’s will for each of us: not our condemnation but our salvation through Jesus. He is the grace which saves from sin and from death … God does not nail us to our sin, he does not identify us by the evil we have committed. We have a name, and God does not identify this name with the sin we have committed. He wants to free us, and wants that we too want it together with him. He wants us to be free to convert from evil to good, and this is possible — it is possible! — with his grace.

— Angelus, 13 March 2016

Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (Jn 8:12-13)

esus’ mission is to enlighten. He himself said: “I am the light of the world.” The prophet Isaiah prophesied this light: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light” (9:1). And the mission of the Apostles, too, was to bring light. Paul said to King Agrippa: “I was chosen to enlighten, to bring this light — which is not mine, but another’s — but to bring light” (Acts 26:18). Because the world was in darkness. Jesus brings light. But the people, his people rejected it. They were so accustomed to the darkness that the light blinded them, they did not know where to go. And this is the tragedy of our sin: sin blinds us and we cannot tolerate the light … The Lord saves us from the darkness we have within, from the darkness of daily life, of social life, of political life, of national, international life. There is so much darkness within. And the Lord saves us. But he asks us to have the courage to see our darkness so that the Lord’s light may enter and save us. Let us not fear the Lord: he is very good; he is meek; he is close to us. He has come to save us. Let us not be afraid of the light of Jesus.

— Homily, 6 May 2020

Moses prayed for the people, and the Lord said to Moses, “Make a seraph and mount it on a pole, and whoever looks at it after being bitten will live.” Moses accordingly made a bronze serpent and mounted it on a pole, and whenever anyone who had been bitten by a serpent looked at the bronze serpent, he lived. (Nm 21:7-9)

oses made a serpent and set it on a pole. Jesus will be lifted up like the serpent to bring salvation. But the core of the prophecy is that Jesus made himself into sin for us. He did not sin; he made himself sin. As St. Peter says in his letter, “He bore all of our sins in himself.” (1 Pt 2:24) And so, when we gaze on the crucifix, we think about the Lord who suffers, and all of that is true. But let us pause a moment in order to arrive at the center of that truth: Jesus took upon himself all of our sins, he annihilated himself. The cross, it is true, is a torture: there was a vendetta by the doctors of the law who did not want him ... But the truth that comes from God is that he came into the world to take our own sins upon himself to the point of making himself into sin. All sin. Our sins are there. We need to make it a habit of looking at the crucifix in this light, which is the truest, it is the light of redemption.

— Homily, 31 March 2020

Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Lent

the Fifth Week of Lent

Jesus said to those Jews who believed in him, “If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (Jn 8:31)

he most radical antidote to the virus of falsehood is purification by the truth. In Christianity, truth is not just a conceptual reality that regards how we judge things, defining them as true or false. The truth is not just bringing to light things that are concealed, “revealing reality,” as the ancient Greek term aletheia (from a-lethès, “not hidden”) might lead us to believe. Truth involves our whole life. In the Bible, it carries with it the sense of support, solidity, and trust, as implied by the root ‘aman, the source of our liturgical expression Amen. Truth is something you can lean on, so as not to fall. In this relational sense, the only truly reliable and trustworthy One — the One on whom we can count — is the living God. Hence, Jesus can say: “I am the truth” (Jn 14:6). We discover and rediscover the truth when we experience it within ourselves in the loyalty and trustworthiness of the One who loves us. This alone can liberate us: “The truth will set you free” (Jn 8:32).

— Message for World Communications Day, 2018

When Abram prostrated himself, God spoke to him: “My covenant with you is this: you are to become the father of a host of nations. No longer shall you be called Abram; your name shall be Abraham, for I am making you the father of a host of nations.”

(Gn 17:3-5)

n reading the Book of Genesis, we discover that Abraham experienced prayer in constant faithfulness to that Word, which periodically appeared along his path. In short, we could say that in Abraham’s life faith becomes history. Faith becomes history. Indeed Abraham, with his life, with his example teaches us this path, this path in which faith becomes history. God is no longer seen only in cosmic phenomena, as a distant God, who can instill fear. The God of Abraham becomes “my God,” the God of my personal history, who guides my steps, who does not abandon me; the God of my days, companion in my adventures; the God Providence. I ask myself and I ask you: do we have this experience with God? “My God,” the God who accompanies me, the God of my personal history, the God who guides my steps, who does not abandon me, the God of my days? Do we have this experience?

— General Audience, 3 June 2020

of the Fifth Week of Lent

Sing to the Lord, praise the Lord, For he has rescued the life of the poor from the power of the wicked! (Jer 20:13)

n imitation of our Master, we Christians are called to confront the poverty of our brothers and sisters, to touch it, to make it our own and to take practical steps to alleviate it. Destitution is not the same as poverty: destitution is poverty without faith, without support, without hope … In response to this destitution, the church offers her help, her diakonia, in meeting these needs and binding these wounds which disfigure the face of humanity. In the poor and outcast, we see Christ’s face; by loving and helping the poor, we love and serve Christ. Our efforts are also directed to ending violations of human dignity, discrimination and abuse in the world, for these are so often the cause of destitution. When power, luxury and money become idols, they take priority over the need for a fair distribution of wealth. Our consciences thus need to be converted to justice, equality, simplicity and sharing.

— Message for Lent, 2014

Thus says the Lord: My dwelling shall be with them; I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Thus the nations shall know that it is I, the Lord, who make Israel holy, when my sanctuary shall be set up among them forever.

(Ex 37: 27-28)

aced with our frailties, the Lord does not withdraw. He does not remain in his blessed eternity and in his infinite light, but rather he draws close, he makes himself incarnate, he descends into the darkness, he dwells in lands that are foreign to him. And why does God do this? Why does he come down to us? He does this because he does not resign himself to the fact that we can go astray by going far from him, far from eternity, far from the light. This is God’s work: to come among us. If we consider ourselves unworthy, that does not stop him: he comes. If we reject him, He does not tire of seeking us out. If we are not ready and willing to receive him, he prefers to come anyway. And if we close the door in his face, he waits. He is truly the Good Shepherd. And the most beautiful image of the Good Shepherd? The Word that becomes flesh to share in our life. Jesus is the Good Shepherd who comes to seek us right where we are: in our problems, in our suffering … He comes there.

— Angelus, 2 January 2022

of Lent

As he rode along, the people were spreading their cloaks on the road; and now as he was approaching the slope of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of his disciples began to praise God aloud with joy for all the mighty deeds they had seen. They proclaimed:

“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest.”

(Lk 19: 36-38)

his week continues in the mystery of Jesus’ death and his resurrection. We have listened to the Passion of our Lord. We might well ask ourselves just one question: Who am I? Who am I, before my Lord? Who am I, before Jesus who enters Jerusalem amid the enthusiasm of the crowd? Am I ready to express my joy, to praise him? Or do I stand back? Who am I, before the suffering Jesus? Am I like Pilate? When I see that the situation is difficult, do I wash my hands and dodge my responsibility, allowing people to be condemned — or condemning them myself? Am I like that crowd which was not sure whether they were at a religious meeting, a trial or a circus, and then chose Barabbas? For them it was all the same: it was more entertaining to humiliate Jesus. Where is my heart? Which of these persons am I like? May this question remain with us throughout the entire week.

Six days before Passover Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.

They gave a dinner for him there, and Martha served, while Lazarus was one of those reclining at table with him.

Mary took a liter of costly perfumed oil made from genuine aromatic nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and dried them with her hair; the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.

(Jn 12: 1-3)

ear brothers and sisters, humility is the only way that leads us to God. At the same time, specifically because it leads us to him, humility leads us also to the essentials of life, to its truest meaning, to the most trustworthy reason for why life is truly worth living. Humility alone opens us up to the experience of truth, of authentic joy, of knowing what matters. Without humility we are “cut off,” we are cut off from understanding God and from understanding ourselves. Humility is needed to understand ourselves, all the more so to understand God.

— General Audience, 22 December 2021

When Judas had left, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and he will glorify him at once. My children, I will be with you only a little while longer.” (Jn 13: 31-33)

hose who seek to know Jesus must look within the cross where his glory is revealed; to look within the cross …Within the image of Jesus crucified is revealed the mystery of the death of the Son as a supreme act of love, the source of life and salvation for humanity of all ages. We have been healed in his wounds. I may think: “How do I look at the crucifix? As a work of art, to see if it is beautiful or not? Or do I look within; do I penetrate Jesus’ wounds unto the depths of his heart? Do I look at the mystery of God who was humiliated unto death, like a slave, like a criminal?” Do not forget this: look to the crucifix, but look within it. There is a beautiful devotional way of praying one Our Father for each of the five wounds. When we pray that Our Father, we are trying to enter within, through the wounds of Jesus, inside his very heart. And there we will learn the great wisdom of the mystery of Christ, the great wisdom of the cross.

— Angelus, 18 March 2018

One of the Twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?” They paid him thirty pieces of silver, and from that time on he looked for an opportunity to hand him over. (Mt 26:14-16)

udas’ restless heart is tormented by concupiscence and tormented by the love of Jesus — a love that failed to become love — tormented by this fog, he goes back to the priests and asks for forgiveness, asks for salvation. “What is that to us? It is your responsibility …” The devil speaks like this and leaves us in despair. Let us think of the many institutionalized Judases in this world who exploit people. And think also of the small Judas that each one of us has within at the hour of choice: between loyalty or interest. Each one of us has the ability to betray, to sell, to choose for one’s own interest. Each one of us has the opportunity to let ourselves be attracted by love of money or goods or future well-being. “Judas, where are you?” But I will ask each one of us: “You, Judas, the little Judas within me: where are you?”

— Homily, 8 April 2020

When Jesus had washed their feet and put his garments back on and reclined at table again, he said to them, “Do you realize what I have done for you?

You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’ and rightly so, for indeed I am. If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.”

(Jn 13: 12-15)

ife is a journey, along different roads, different paths, which leave their mark on us. We know in faith that Jesus seeks us out. He wants to heal our wounds, to soothe our feet which hurt from traveling alone, to wash each of us clean of the dust from our journey. He doesn’t ask us where we have been, he doesn’t question us what about we have done. Rather, he tells us: “Unless I wash your feet, you have no share with me” (Jn 13:8). Unless I wash your feet, I will not be able to give you the life which the Father always dreamed of, the life for which he created you. Jesus comes to meet us, so that he can restore our dignity as children of God. He wants to help us to set out again, to resume our journey, to recover our hope, to restore our faith and trust. He wants us to keep walking along the paths of life, to realize that we have a mission, and that confinement is not the same thing as exclusion. Life means “getting our feet dirty” from the dust-filled roads of life and history. All of us need to be cleansed, to be washed. All of us are being sought out by the Teacher, who wants to help us resume our journey.

— Address to Prisoners, Philadelphia, 27 September 2015

Though he was harshly treated, he submitted and opened not his mouth; like a lamb led to the slaughter or a sheep before the shearers, he was silent and opened not his mouth.

(Is 53:7)

ord Jesus, help us to see in your cross all the crosses of the world:

the cross of people hungry for bread and for love; the cross of people alone and abandoned even by their children and kin; the cross of people thirsty for justice and for peace; the cross of people who lack the comfort of faith; the cross of the elderly who struggle under the weight of years and of loneliness; the cross of migrants who find doors closed in fear and hearts armored by political calculations; the cross of little ones, wounded in their innocence and their purity;

the cross of humanity that wanders in the darkness of uncertainty and in the obscurity of temporary culture;

the cross of families split by betrayal, by the seductions of the evil one or by homicidal levity and selfishness;

the cross of our weaknesses, of our hypocrisy, of our betrayals, of our sins and of our many broken promises;

the cross of your church that, faithful to your Gospel, struggles to spread your love even among the baptized themselves;

Lord Jesus, revive in us the hope of resurrection and of your definitive victory over all evil and all death. Amen!

— Good Friday Prayer, 2019

Ubaldo Gandolfi, Christ on the Cross, 18th century.

Thus says the Lord: In their affliction, they shall look for me: “Come let us return to the Lord, For it is he who has rent, but he will heal us; he has struck us, but he will bind our wounds.”

(Hos 5:15b)

e are experiencing the great silence of Holy Saturday. We can imagine ourselves in the position of the women on that day. They, like us, had before their eyes the drama of suffering, of an unexpected tragedy that happened all too suddenly. They had seen death and it weighed on their hearts. Pain was mixed with fear: would they suffer the same fate as the Master? Then too there was fear about the future and all that would need to be rebuilt. A painful memory, a hope cut short. For them, as for us, it was the darkest hour. Our Lady spent that Saturday, the day that would be dedicated to her, in prayer and hope. She responded to sorrow with trust in the Lord. Unbeknownst to these women, they were making preparations, in the darkness of that Sabbath, for “the dawn of the first day of the week,” the day that would change history. Jesus, like a seed buried in the ground, was about to make new life blossom in the world; and these women, by prayer and love, were helping to make that hope flower.

— Homily, Easter Vigil, 2020

On the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb. (Jn 20:1)

he Easter message speaks concisely of the event that gives us the hope that does not disappoint: “Jesus who was crucified has risen.” It speaks to us not about angels or ghosts, but about a man, a man of flesh and bone, with a face and a name: Jesus. The Gospel testifies that this Jesus, crucified under Pontius Pilate for claiming he was the Christ, the Son of God, rose on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, just as he had foretold to his disciples. The crucified Jesus, none other, has risen from the dead. God the Father raised Jesus, his Son, because he fully accomplished his saving will. Jesus took upon himself our weakness, our infirmities, even our death. He endured our sufferings and bore the weight of our sins. Because of this, God the Father exalted him and now Jesus Christ lives forever; he is the Lord. The witnesses report an important detail: the risen Jesus bears the marks of the wounds in his hands, feet and side. These wounds are the everlasting seal of his love for us. All those who experience a painful trial in body or spirit can find refuge in these wounds and, through them, receive the grace of the hope that does not disappoint.

— Urbi et Orbi, Easter, 2021

©2023 Catholic Near East Welfare Association

Text Credits:

Scripture excerpts from USCCB, Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States, second typical edition, Copyright © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine

Pope Francis writings and reflections from The Holy See, vatican.va

Cover: Gustave Doré, Jesus Praying in the Garden, 1866

Page 3: Gustave Doré, The Last Supper, 1866

Image Credits:

Front cover, Oprea Nicolae/Alamy Stock Photo; page 2, Kotkoa/Adobe Stock; page 3, Artokoloro/Alamy Stock Photo; page 4, CNS photo/Vatican Media; page 10, Archivist/Adobe Stock; pages 19, 30, The Metropolitan Museum of Art; page 22, Minneapolis Institute of Art; page 27, Open Art Images; page 35, Art Institute of Chicago; page 40, Nickolae/Adobe Stock; page 50, The National Gallery of Art; page 58, Los Angeles County Museum of Art; page 62, Renáta Sedmáková/ Adobe Stock.

Artist not known, Lithography of Resurrection in Missale Romanum, 19th century.

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