Following
is the whole text of Pope Francis' homily during the Palm Sunday Mass
that begins the Holy Week celebrations. The Holy Father commented on the World Youth Day that the entire Church celebrates today, asking that we live the faith “with a young heart”.
The pontiff urged the youth to “tell the world that it is good to follow Christ!”
JOY
“Jesus
enters Jerusalem. The crowd of disciples accompanies him in festive
mood, their garments are stretched out before him, there is talk of the
miracles he has accomplished, and loud praises are heard: 'Blessed is
the King who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in
the highest!' (Lk 19:38).“
“Crowds,
celebrating, praise, blessing, peace: joy fills the air. Jesus has
awakened great hopes, especially in the hearts of the simple, the
humble, the poor, the forgotten, those who do not matter in the eyes of
the world. He understands human sufferings, he has shown the face of
God’s mercy, he has bent down to heal body and soul.”
“This
is Jesus. This is his heart that looks upon all of us, who sees our
sicknesses, our sins. Jesus' love is great. And so He enters into
Jerusalem with this love and looks upon all of us. It is a beautiful
scene, full of light—the light of the Jesus' love, of his heart—joy, and
celebration.”
“At
the beginning of Mass, we repeated all this. We waved our palms. We
also welcomed Jesus; we too expressed our joy at accompanying him, at
knowing him to be close, present in us and among us as a friend, a
brother, and also as a King: that is, a shining beacon for our lives.
Jesus is God but He lowered himself to walk with us. He is our friend,
our brother. He enlightens us along the journey. And thus today we have
welcomed him.”
“And this is the first word that I want to tell you: 'Joy!'
Do not be men and women of sadness: a Christian can never be sad! Never
give way to discouragement! Ours is not a joy that comes from having
many possessions, but it comes from having encountered a Person, Jesus,
who is among us. It comes from knowing that with him we are never alone,
even at difficult moments, even when our life’s journey comes up
against problems and obstacles that seem insurmountable, and there are
so many of them! This is the moment when the enemy comes, when the
devil, often times dressed as an angel, comes and insidiously tells us
his word. Don't listen to him! Follow Jesus! We accompany, we follow
Jesus, but above all we know that he accompanies us and carries us on
his shoulders. This is our joy, this is the hope that we must bring to
this world of ours. Please don't let him steal our hope. Don't let him
steal our hope, that hope that Jesus gives us.”
CROSS
“The
second word. Why does Jesus enter Jerusalem? Or better: how does Jesus
enter Jerusalem? The crowds acclaim him as King. And he does not deny
it, he does not tell them to be silent (cf. Lk 19:39-40). But what kind
of a King is Jesus? Let us take a look at him: He is riding on a donkey;
He is not accompanied by a court; He is not surrounded by an army as a
symbol of power. He is received by humble people, simple folk who had
the sense to see something more in Jesus; those with a sense of faith
that tells them: 'This is the Saviour. Jesus does not enter the Holy
City to receive the honours reserved to earthly kings, to the powerful,
to rulers. He enters to be scourged, insulted and abused, as Isaiah
foretold in the First Reading (cf. Is 50:6). He enters to receive a
crown of thorns, a staff, a purple robe: his kingship becomes an object
of derision. He enters to climb Calvary, carrying his burden of wood.”
“And this brings us to the second word: Cross.
Jesus enters Jerusalem in order to die on the Cross. And it is here
that his kingship shines forth in godly fashion: his royal throne is the
wood of the Cross! I think of what Benedict XVI said to the cardinals,
'You are princes, but of a crucified King.' That is Jesus' throne. Jesus
takes it upon himself... Why the Cross? Because Jesus takes upon
himself the evil, the filth, the sin of the world, including our own
sin—all of us—and he cleanses it, he cleanses it with his blood, with
the mercy and the love of God. Let us look around: how many wounds are
inflicted upon humanity by evil! Wars, violence, economic conflicts that
hit the weakest, greed for money, which none of us can take with us, it
must be left behind.”
Here
the Pope added a personal note: “My grandmother used to tell us
children, 'A shroud has no pockets!'” Then he continued: “Loving money,
power, corruption, divisions, crimes against human life and against
creation! And also—each of us knows and recognizes—our personal sins:
our failures in love and respect towards God, towards our neighbour and
towards the whole of creation.”
“Jesus
on the Cross feels the whole weight of the evil, and with the force of
God’s love he conquers it, he defeats it with his resurrection. This is
the good that Jesus' does for all of us upon his throne of the Cross.
Christ’s Cross embraced with love does not lead to sadness, but to joy!
It leads to the joy of being saved and of doing a little of what He did
that day of his death.”
YOUTH
“Today in this Square, there are many young people: for 28 years Palm Sunday has been World Youth Day! This is our third word: Youth!
Dear young people, I saw you in the procession when you entered. I
think of you celebrating around Jesus, waving your olive branches. I
think of you crying out his name and expressing your joy at being with
him! You have an important part in the celebration of faith! You bring
us the joy of faith and you tell us that we must live the faith with a
young heart,” and here he emphasized, “a young heart, always, even at
the age of seventy or eighty, a young heart. With Christ, the heart
never grows old!”
“Yet
all of us, all of you know very well that the King whom we follow and
who accompanies us is very special: he is a King who loves even to the
Cross and who teaches us to serve and to love. And you are not ashamed
of his Cross! On the contrary, you embrace it, because you have
understood that it is in giving ourselves, in giving ourselves and in
going outside of ourselves, that we have true joy and through God's love
He has conquered evil. You carry the pilgrim Cross through all the
Continents, along the highways of the world! You carry it in response to
Jesus’ call: “Go, make disciples of all nations” (Mt 28:19), which is
the theme of World Youth Day this year. You carry it so as to tell
everyone that on the Cross Jesus knocked down the wall of enmity that
divides people and nations, and he brought reconciliation and peace.”
“Dear
friends, I too am setting out on a journey with you today, in the
footsteps of Blessed John Paul II and Benedict XVI. We are already close
to the next stage of this great pilgrimage of the Cross. I look forward
joyfully to this coming July in Rio de Janeiro! I will see you in that
great city in Brazil! Prepare well in your communities—prepare
spiritually above all—so that our gathering in Rio may be a sign of
faith for the whole world.” Then, in an unscripted exhortation, the Pope
called out: “Young persons, you must tell the world that it's good to
follow Jesus, that it's good to go with Jesus. Jesus' message is good.
It's good to go outside ourselves to the ends of the earth and of
existence to bring Jesus! Three words: Joy, Cross, and Youth.”
“Let
us ask the intercession of the Virgin Mary. She teaches us the joy of
meeting Christ, the love with which we must look to the foot of the
Cross, the enthusiasm of the young heart with which we must follow him
during this Holy Week and throughout our lives. May it be so.”