At 7:00am local time this morning (2:00am EDT), the Holy Father, Pope Francis celebrated Mass inside the chapel at the Casa Santa Marta.
In these days, in some parts of the world, there have been consequences - some consequences - of the pandemic; one of these consequences is hunger. We are beginning to see people who are hungry, because they cannot work, they do not have permanent jobs, and as a result of many circumstances. We are already beginning to see the after effects, which will come later but which are already beginning now. Let us pray for families who are beginning to feel this need because of the pandemic.
"And each of them returned to his own home" (Jn. 7.53): after their discussion and all of that, each returned to his convictions. There was a rift among the people: the people who followed Jesus listened to him - they did not notice the long periods of time that passed as they listened to him, because the Word of Jesus enters the heart - and the group of doctors of the Law who rejected Jesus a priori because he did not accomplish his works according to the law, according to them. There were two groups of people. The people who loved Jesus followed him ... and the group of intellectuals ... who knew the Law, the leaders of Israel, the leaders of the people. This is clear when the guards returned to the chief priests, they said: 'Why did you not bring him here? ... The guards replied: Never has a man spoken like this. But the Pharisees replied to them: Have you too been deceived? Did any of the leaders of the Pharisees believe in him? But these people who do not know the Law are cursed (Jn 7:45-49). This group of the doctors of the Law, the elite, felt contempt for Jesus. But also, they felt contempt for the people, those people, who were ignorant, who knew nothing. The holy faithful people of God believed in Jesus, followed him, and this group of elites, the doctors of the Law, detached themselves from the people and did not receive Jesus. But why, if these were illustrious people, intelligent, had they studied? But they had a big flaw: they had lost the memory of their belonging to a people.
The people of God followed Jesus ... they could not explain why, but they followed him and he reached their hearts, and he did not grow tired. We can think for example about the day of the multiplication of the loaves: they spent the whole day with Jesus, to the point that the apostles said to Jesus: Leave them, so that they can go away to buy food (cf Mk 6:36). The apostles also kept their distance; they did not take into consideration - they did not despise the people - but they did not take the people of God into consideration. Let them go and eat. Jesus' response was: You give them something to eat (cf Mk 6,37). He put their focus back onto the people.
This rift between the elite of the religious leaders and the people is a drama that comes from afar. We can also think in the Old Testament of the attitude of the sons of Eli in the temple: they used the people of God; and if any of them were a little atheist but came to fulfill the Law, they said: They are superstitious. The contempt of the people. The contempt of people who are not as polite as we who have studied, who know ... Instead, the people of God have a great grace: their noses. Their sense of knowing where the Spirit is. They are sinners, like us: they are sinners. But they have that sense of knowing the ways of salvation.
The problem with the elites, with elite clerics like these, was that they had lost the memory of their belonging to the people of God; they were sophisticated, they had moved on to another social class, they felt that they were leaders. This is clericalism, which already took place there. But how come - I heard in recent days - how come these nuns, these priests who are healthy are going out to the poor to feed them, and can they take the coronavirus with them? Tell the mother superior that she shouldn't let the nuns come out, tell the bishop that he shouldn't let the priests come out! They are for the sacraments! It's up to the government to feed the people! This is what we are talking about these days: the same topic. They are second-class people: we are the ruling class, we must not get our hands dirty with the poor.
Many times I think: they are good people - priests, nuns - who do not have the courage to go out and serve the poor. Something is missing. What were these people missing, the doctors of the Law? They had lost their memory, they had lost what Jesus felt in his heart: that he was part of his own people. They had lost the memory of what God said to David: I took you from the flock. They had lost the memory of their belonging to the flock.
And these, each, each of them returned to his home (cf Jn. 7,53). A rift. Nicodemus, who saw something - he was a restless man, perhaps not so brave, too diplomatic, but restless - went to Jesus then, but he was faithful to what he could; he tried to mediate and took from the Law: Does our Law judge a man before we have listened to him and understand what he has done? (Jn 7.51). They answered him; but they did not answer the question about the Law: Are you also from Galilee? You are ignorant, and you will see that a prophet does not arise from Galilee "(Jn 7,52). And this is how the story ended.
Let us also think today about the many men and women who are qualified in the service of God, who are good and go to serve the people; there are many priests who do not detach themselves from the people. The day before yesterday I received a photograph of a priest, a mountain pastor, pastor of many villages, in a place where it snows, and in the snow he took the monstrance to the small villages to give the blessing. He didn't care about the snow, he didn't care about the burning that the cold made him feel in his hands, in contact with the metal of the monstrance: he only cared to bring Jesus to the people.
We must think, each of us, about which side we are on, if we are in the middle, a little undecided, if we are with the feeling of the people of God, of the faithful people of God who cannot fail: they have that infallibilitas in credendo (infallibility of belief). And let's think about the elite that detach themselves from the people of God, toward clericalism. And perhaps the advice that Paul gives to his disciple, the bishop, the young bishop Timothy, will do us all good: Remember your mother and grandmother (cf 2 Tim 1:5). Remember your mother and your grandmother. If Paul advised this, it was because he was well aware of the danger to which this sense of elite leads in our leadership.
After the completion of the Mass, the Holy Father spent some time in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. He instructed all those who were watching from a distance:
People who cannot receive communion because of the distance, now make a spiritual communion.
His Holiness offered the following prayer, leading all those who were united with him in prayer via various media:
My Jesus, I believe that you are truly present in the Blessed Sacrament of the altar. I love you above all things and I desire you in my soul. Since I cannot receive You sacramentally now, at least spiritually come to my heart. As you have already come, I embrace you and I join myself to you. Do not let me ever be separated from you.
Greetings of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
prior to the celebration of the Mass
In these days, in some parts of the world, there have been consequences - some consequences - of the pandemic; one of these consequences is hunger. We are beginning to see people who are hungry, because they cannot work, they do not have permanent jobs, and as a result of many circumstances. We are already beginning to see the after effects, which will come later but which are already beginning now. Let us pray for families who are beginning to feel this need because of the pandemic.
Homily of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
during the Mass celebrated on 28 March 2020
"And each of them returned to his own home" (Jn. 7.53): after their discussion and all of that, each returned to his convictions. There was a rift among the people: the people who followed Jesus listened to him - they did not notice the long periods of time that passed as they listened to him, because the Word of Jesus enters the heart - and the group of doctors of the Law who rejected Jesus a priori because he did not accomplish his works according to the law, according to them. There were two groups of people. The people who loved Jesus followed him ... and the group of intellectuals ... who knew the Law, the leaders of Israel, the leaders of the people. This is clear when the guards returned to the chief priests, they said: 'Why did you not bring him here? ... The guards replied: Never has a man spoken like this. But the Pharisees replied to them: Have you too been deceived? Did any of the leaders of the Pharisees believe in him? But these people who do not know the Law are cursed (Jn 7:45-49). This group of the doctors of the Law, the elite, felt contempt for Jesus. But also, they felt contempt for the people, those people, who were ignorant, who knew nothing. The holy faithful people of God believed in Jesus, followed him, and this group of elites, the doctors of the Law, detached themselves from the people and did not receive Jesus. But why, if these were illustrious people, intelligent, had they studied? But they had a big flaw: they had lost the memory of their belonging to a people.
The people of God followed Jesus ... they could not explain why, but they followed him and he reached their hearts, and he did not grow tired. We can think for example about the day of the multiplication of the loaves: they spent the whole day with Jesus, to the point that the apostles said to Jesus: Leave them, so that they can go away to buy food (cf Mk 6:36). The apostles also kept their distance; they did not take into consideration - they did not despise the people - but they did not take the people of God into consideration. Let them go and eat. Jesus' response was: You give them something to eat (cf Mk 6,37). He put their focus back onto the people.
This rift between the elite of the religious leaders and the people is a drama that comes from afar. We can also think in the Old Testament of the attitude of the sons of Eli in the temple: they used the people of God; and if any of them were a little atheist but came to fulfill the Law, they said: They are superstitious. The contempt of the people. The contempt of people who are not as polite as we who have studied, who know ... Instead, the people of God have a great grace: their noses. Their sense of knowing where the Spirit is. They are sinners, like us: they are sinners. But they have that sense of knowing the ways of salvation.
The problem with the elites, with elite clerics like these, was that they had lost the memory of their belonging to the people of God; they were sophisticated, they had moved on to another social class, they felt that they were leaders. This is clericalism, which already took place there. But how come - I heard in recent days - how come these nuns, these priests who are healthy are going out to the poor to feed them, and can they take the coronavirus with them? Tell the mother superior that she shouldn't let the nuns come out, tell the bishop that he shouldn't let the priests come out! They are for the sacraments! It's up to the government to feed the people! This is what we are talking about these days: the same topic. They are second-class people: we are the ruling class, we must not get our hands dirty with the poor.
Many times I think: they are good people - priests, nuns - who do not have the courage to go out and serve the poor. Something is missing. What were these people missing, the doctors of the Law? They had lost their memory, they had lost what Jesus felt in his heart: that he was part of his own people. They had lost the memory of what God said to David: I took you from the flock. They had lost the memory of their belonging to the flock.
And these, each, each of them returned to his home (cf Jn. 7,53). A rift. Nicodemus, who saw something - he was a restless man, perhaps not so brave, too diplomatic, but restless - went to Jesus then, but he was faithful to what he could; he tried to mediate and took from the Law: Does our Law judge a man before we have listened to him and understand what he has done? (Jn 7.51). They answered him; but they did not answer the question about the Law: Are you also from Galilee? You are ignorant, and you will see that a prophet does not arise from Galilee "(Jn 7,52). And this is how the story ended.
Let us also think today about the many men and women who are qualified in the service of God, who are good and go to serve the people; there are many priests who do not detach themselves from the people. The day before yesterday I received a photograph of a priest, a mountain pastor, pastor of many villages, in a place where it snows, and in the snow he took the monstrance to the small villages to give the blessing. He didn't care about the snow, he didn't care about the burning that the cold made him feel in his hands, in contact with the metal of the monstrance: he only cared to bring Jesus to the people.
We must think, each of us, about which side we are on, if we are in the middle, a little undecided, if we are with the feeling of the people of God, of the faithful people of God who cannot fail: they have that infallibilitas in credendo (infallibility of belief). And let's think about the elite that detach themselves from the people of God, toward clericalism. And perhaps the advice that Paul gives to his disciple, the bishop, the young bishop Timothy, will do us all good: Remember your mother and grandmother (cf 2 Tim 1:5). Remember your mother and your grandmother. If Paul advised this, it was because he was well aware of the danger to which this sense of elite leads in our leadership.
After the completion of the Mass, the Holy Father spent some time in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. He instructed all those who were watching from a distance:
People who cannot receive communion because of the distance, now make a spiritual communion.
His Holiness offered the following prayer, leading all those who were united with him in prayer via various media:
Prayer to make a spiritual communion
My Jesus, I believe that you are truly present in the Blessed Sacrament of the altar. I love you above all things and I desire you in my soul. Since I cannot receive You sacramentally now, at least spiritually come to my heart. As you have already come, I embrace you and I join myself to you. Do not let me ever be separated from you.
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