(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis presided over Mass in St Peter’s Square on Sunday for the Feast of Divine Mercy, and encouraged the faithful to be “apostles of mercy” toward those in need.
“We are all called to become living writers of the Gospel, heralds of the Good News to all men and women today,” the Pope told the crowds during his homily.
“We do this by practicing the corporal and spiritual works of mercy, which are the hallmarks of the Christian life .
“By means of these simple yet powerful gestures, even when unseen, we can accompany the needy, bringing God’s tenderness and consolation.”
Pope Francis referred back to the day’s Gospel taken from John, which recounts the episode in which the Apostle Thomas doubts the Resurrection until he puts his hand in Jesus’ side.
These scenes denotes the contrast between the disciple’s “fear” as they hid behind closed doors, and the “mission” on which Jesus sends them: “to proclaim the message of forgiveness,” the Pope said.
“Being apostles of mercy means touching and soothing the wounds that today afflict the bodies and souls of many of our brothers and sisters.”
“Curing these wounds, we profess Jesus, we make him present and alive; we allow others, who touch his mercy with their own hands, to recognize him as ‘Lord and God.’”
The official translation of Pope Francis’ homily for Divine Mercy Sunday is below:
“Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book” ( Jn 20:30). The Gospel is the book of God’s mercy, to be read and reread, because everything that Jesus said and did is an expression of the Father’s mercy. Not everything, however, was written down; the Gospel of mercy remains an open book , in which the signs of Christ’s disciples, which are concrete acts of love and the best witness to mercy, continue to be written. We are all called to become living writers of the Gospel, heralds of the Good News to all men and women today. We do this by practicing the corporal and spiritual works of mercy, which are the hallmarks of the Christian life . By means of these simple yet powerful gestures, even when unseen, we can accompany the needy, bringing God’s tenderness and consolation. Thus continues the work of Jesus on Easter day, when he poured into the hearts of his fearful disciples the Father’s mercy, bringing them the Holy Spirit who forgives sins and brings joy.
At the same time, the story we have just heard presents an evident contrast: on the one hand, there is the fear of the disciples, who gathered behind closed doors; on the other hand, there is the mission of Jesus, who sends them into the world to proclaim the message of forgiveness. This contrast may also be present in us, experienced as an interior struggle between a closed heart and the call of love to open doors closed by sin. It is a call that frees us to go out of ourselves. Christ, who for love entered through doors barred by sin, death and the powers of hell, wants to enter into each one of us to break open the locked doors of our hearts. Jesus, who by his resurrection has overcome the fear and dread which imprison us, wishes to throw open our closed doors and send us out. The path that the Risen Master shows us is a one way street, it goes in only one direction: this means that we must move beyond ourselves to witness to the healing power of love that has conquered us. We see before us a humanity that is often wounded and fearful, a humanity that bears the scars of pain and uncertainty. Before the anguished cry for mercy and peace, Jesus confidently exhorts us: “As the Father has sent me, even so I send you” ( Jn 20:21).
In God’s mercy, all of our infirmities find healing. His mercy, in fact, does not keep a distance: it seeks to encounter all forms of poverty and to free this world of so many types of slavery. Mercy desires to reach the wounds of all, to heal them. Being apostles of mercy means touching and soothing the wounds that today afflict the bodies and souls of many of our brothers and sisters. Curing these wounds, we profess Jesus, we make him present and alive; we allow others, who touch his mercy with their own hands, to recognize him as “Lord and God” ( Jn 20:28), as did the Apostle Thomas. This is the mission that he entrusts to us. So many people ask to be listened to and to be understood . The Gospel of mercy, to be proclaimed and written in our daily lives, seeks people with patient and open hearts, “good Samaritans” who understand compassion and silence before the mystery of each brother and sister. The Gospel of mercy requires generous and joyful servants, people who love freely without expecting anything in return.
“Peace be with you!” ( Jn 20:21) is the greeting of Jesus to his disciples; this same peace awaits men and women of our own day. It is not a negotiated peace, it is not the absence of conflict: it is his peace, the peace that comes from the heart of the Risen Lord, the peace that has defeated sin, fear and death. It is a peace that does not divide but unites; it is a peace that does not abandon us but makes us feel listened to and loved; it is a peace that persists even in pain and enables hope to blossom. This peace, as on the day of Easter, is born ever anew by the forgiveness of God which calms our anxious hearts. To be bearers of his peace : this is the mission entrusted to the Church on Easter day. In Christ, we are born to be instruments of reconciliation, to bring the Father’s forgiveness to everyone, to reveal his loving face through concrete gestures of mercy.
In the responsorial Psalm we heard these words: “His love endures forever” ( Ps 117/118:2). Truly, God’s mercy is forever; it never ends, it never runs out, it never gives up when faced with closed doors, and it never tires. In this forever we find strength in moments of trial and weakness because we are sure that God does not abandon us. He remains with us forever . Let us give thanks for so great a love, which we find impossible to grasp. Let us ask for the grace to never grow tired of drawing from the well of the Father’s mercy and bringing it to the world: let us ask that we too may be merciful, to spread the power of the Gospel everywhere.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Saturday lead a prayer vigil for Divine Mercy, in which he spoke of the many faces of the mercy of God.
The prayer vigil took place on the eve of Divine Mercy Sunday and coincided with the 11th anniversary of Pope St. John Paul II’s death.
Listen to Devin Watkins’ report:
Thousands of people gathered in St. Peter’s Square on Saturday in the Octave of Easter for the celebration of a prayer vigil for Divine Mercy.
In remarks prepared for the occasion, Pope Francis reflected on the ‘vast ocean’ that is the mercy of God, saying “so great and infinite is his mercy, to the point that it is greatly challenging to describe it in all its entirety”.
Turning to the testimony of Scripture, Pope Francis noted that the Bible expresses God’s mercy as nearness to His people and in the expression of tenderness, especially in the prophet Hosea.
The Holy Father went on to name the many faces of God’s mercy.
“How many expressions there are of God’s mercy! This mercy comes to us as closeness and tenderness, and because of this, comes also as compassion and solidarity, as consolation and forgiveness. The more we receive, the more we are called to share it with others; it cannot be kept hidden or kept only for ourselves. It is something which burns within our hearts, driving us to love, thus recognizing the face of Jesus Christ, above all in those who are most distant, weak, alone, confused and marginalized.”
The prayer vigil coincided with the 11th anniversary of Pope John Paul II’s death on Divine Mercy Sunday, 2 April 2005.
Pope Francis himself will visit the Shrine of Divine Mercy during the 28th World Youth Day to take place this summer in Krakow, Poland.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Thursday sent a telegram expressing his condolences for the death of Cardinal Georges Marie Martin Cottier, OP, Theologian-emeritus of the Papal Household.
Cardinal Cottier died during Thursday night at Rome’s Agostino Gemelli Hospital at the age of 93.
In the telegram addressed to Cardinal Cottier’s sister, the Holy Father conveyed his ‘profound gratitude’ in remembrance of the Cardinal’s ‘strong faith, his paternal kindness, and his intense cultural and ecclesial activity, especially in the service of Pope St. John Paul II and Pope-emeritus Benedict XVI as theologian of the Papal Household’.
Pope Francis also invoked the intercession of the Virgin Mary and St. Dominic, sending his Apostolic Blessing to all who knew Cardinal Cottier during the course of his long life.
Biography
Cardinal Georges Marie Cottier, O.P., Theologian-emeritus of the Papal Household, died during the night between 31 March and 1 April 2016 at Rome’s Agostino Gemelli Hospital.
The funeral Mass is to be presided over by Cardinal Angelo Sodano at St. Peter’s Basilica on 2 April at 8.30 am.
Born 25 April 1922 in the Carouge municipality of Ginevra, Switzerland, Dominican Cardinal Cottier served as the Theologian of the Papal Household from 1990 until 2005.
Cardinal Cottier entered the Dominican Order in 1945, studying philosophy and theology at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas in Rome, also known as the ‘Angelicum’. He was ordained a priest on 2 July 1951.
In 1959 he defended his doctoral thesis at the Liberal Arts Faculty of the University of Ginevra on ‘The Atheism of the young Marx and his Hegelian origins. In 1962 he became a professor at the same University until his retirement in 1987.
Cardinal Cottier also taught courses in modern and contemporary philosophy at the Universities of Fribourg, Montréal, and Padua, as well as at the Catholic Institute of Paris and the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan.
He participated in the Second Vatican Council as an ‘Expert of the Council’ and was a ‘Council Consultant’ in the dialogue with non-believers, participating in a series of meetings in Ljubljana, Budapest, Strasburg, and Moscow.
In an interview on the impact of Vatican II, Cardinal Cottier once said, “I would say that much has been done. For example, the structure of episcopal conferences; the way some of them function now; or the dicasteries of the Church which didn’t exist before, Christian union, dialogue with non-believers – all these are new things which often function well. Also those areas that regard justice and peace – these things didn’t exist before the Council, as well as concern for dialogue with the world, the idea itself of the New Evangelization was born with the Council. Also the Synod of Bishops and the doctrine itself of the last Popes, which have as their no. 1 program the implementation of the Council.”
In 1986 he was nominated a member of the International Theological Commission, becoming its Secretary in 1989.
Cardinal Cottier also served as a consultant for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Pontifical Council for Culture.
He was consecrated Archbishop on 20 October 2003 with the titular Church of Tullia and nominated Cardinal of the Consistory by Pope St. John Paul II on 21 October 2003.
Below is a Vatican Radio translation of Pope Francis’ telegramme:
To Madame Marie Emmanuelle PASTORE COTTIER
I have learned with sadness the news of the passing of your brother, Cardinal Georges Marie Martin Cottier, O.P. I would like to express my deep involvement in the mourning which affects everyone who knew this zealous servant of the Gospel. With profound gratitude, I remember his strong faith, his paternal kindness, and his intense cultural and ecclesial activity, especially in the service of Pope St. John Paul II and Pope-emeritus Benedict XVI as Theologian of the Papal Household. I offer a fervent prayer to the Lord, so that, through the intercession of the Virgin Mary and St. Dominic, he may grant the late Cardinal the reward promised to his faithful disciples. As a sign of comfort, I send my Apostolic Blessing with all my heart to you, and to all who appreciated his priestly zeal and dedication to the Church and to the Sovereign Pontiff.
Franciscus Pp.
(from Vatican Radio)…