Asking
ourselves how we respond to the love of Christ, if it is a love like that of
Paul, for whom " no one can separate me from the love of Christ ," or
like "unfaithful" Jerusalem of which Jesus himself says, "you were unwilling
to be loved, and entrusted yourself to many idols, which promised you
everything and then abandoned you".
This is the question posed by
Pope Francis, who this morning celebrated Mass in St. Peter's Basilica, at the
altar of Blessed John Paul II's tomb. There
were more than a hundred priests and many faithful.
The
Pope commented on the readings of the day: the letter of St Paul to the Romans
where the Apostle of the Gentiles speaks of his love for Christ and the Gospel
of St. Luke in which Jesus weeps over Jerusalem, which did not understand it
was loved by him.
"In these readings - said
Francis - there are two things that strike us. First, Paul's certainty: ' Nothing
will be able to
separate usfrom the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.' But he loved the Lord so much - because he had
seen him , he had found him, the Lord
had changed his life - he loved him so much that he said that nothing could separate
him from this love. Precisely this love
of the Lord was the center, the very center of the life of Paul. In persecution,
in disease, in betrayal, in his every experience, all these things that happened
in his life, none of this could separate him from the love of Christ. It was
the center of his own life, the point of reference: the love of Christ. "
"And without the love of
Christ, without experiencing this love, recognizing, nurturing that love, you
can not be a Christian: the Christian feels the Lord's gaze, that beautiful gaze,
loved by the Lord and loved
to the very end. feels ... the Christian feels that his life was saved by the
blood of Christ. And this is love: this is a loving relationship. That's the
first thing that really strikes me".
"The other thing that
strikes me is this sadness of Jesus, when he looks at Jerusalem. ' But you, O
Jerusalem, you who did not understand love'. It did not understand the
tenderness of God, with that beautiful image that Jesus depicts. It did not
understand the love of God : the opposite of what he Paul felt. But yes, God
loves me , God loves us, but it is something abstract, something that does not
touch my heart and arrange my life as
I can. There is no loyalty there. And Jesus' cry from the heart for Jerusalem
is this: ' Jerusalem , you were unwilling to be loved, and entrusted yourself
to many idols, which promised you everything and then abandoned you'. At the
heart of Jesus , the suffering of Jesus' love : a love that is not accepted ,
not welcomed".
"These two icons today: that
of Paul, who remains faithful to the love of Jesus to the end, with the
strength to go forward, to bear everything . He feels himself weak, a sinner,
but has the strength in that ' love
of God, in that encounter that he had with Jesus Christ. On the other hand, the
unfaithful city and its people, unfaithful, who do not accept the love of Jesus
, or even worse , huh? Who live this love but
only half way: a little ' yes, a little ' no, according to their own convenience.
Just look at Paul with his courage that comes from this love, and at Jesus who weeps
over the city, which is untrue. Let's look at Paul's faithfulness and
Jerusalem's infidelity, and at Jesus, his heart, who loves us so much. What do can we do? That is the question: Are
we like Paul or Jerusalem ? Is my love for God strong like that of Paul or my
heart a luke warm heart like that of Jerusalem? May the Lord, through the
intercession of Blessed John Paul II, help us to answer this question . So be
it . "