Pope at Regina Caeli: 'a
self-centered life does not lead to joy'
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| Pope during Regina Coeli (Vatican Media) |
How can we go through life without anxiety and anguish? How
can we make sure we are on the right path? Pope Francis reflects on Jesus’
“Farewell discourse” during the Regina Caeli address on the Fifth Sunday of
Easter.
By Linda Bordoni
During a live-streamed address from the Vatican's Apostolic
Library, Pope Francis prayed the Regina Caeli and invited the faithful never to
fall into despair, but to trust in Jesus in the knowledge that he is always at
our side and that there is a place awaiting us in Heaven.
He centered his catechesis on the Gospel passage of the day
(Jn 14: 1-12) in which, he said, we hear the beginning of Jesus’ so-called
“Farewell discourse” when, at the end of the Last Supper and just before the
start of the Passion, Jesus reassures the disciples saying “Do not let your
hearts be troubled”.
The Lord is saying these same words to us, he said, “But how
can we make sure that our hearts are not troubled?”
‘Believe in me’
The Pope explained that God indicates two “remedies”, the
first being “Believe in me”.
It would seem, he said, rather theoretical, abstract advice.
Instead, Jesus wants to tell us something precise.
“He knows that, in life, the worst anxiety, anguish, is born
of the sensation of not being able to cope, of feeling alone and without points
of reference when faced with events,” the Pope continued highlighting that we
cannot overcome this anguish alone, “when one difficulty is added to another.”
Thus, he said, Jesus asks us to have faith in Him,
knowing that He is always at our side and entrusting ourselves to Him.
‘My Father’s house has many rooms’
The second “remedy” for a troubled heart, the Pope
continued, is expressed in Jesus’ words: “My Father’s house has many rooms… I
am going there to prepare a place for you”.
This is what Jesus did for us, he said, “He reserved a place
in Heaven for us. He took our humanity upon Himself (…) to Heaven where there
is a place reserved for everyone.”
The Pope said we do not live “aimlessly and without a
destination. We are awaited, we are precious.”
He invited the faithful not to forget that here on earth we
are passing though, but our true dwelling place is in Heaven.
“We are made for Heaven, for eternal life, to live forever,”
he said, and “this forever will be entirely in joy, in full
communion with God and with others, without any more tears, resentments,
divisions and troubles.”
‘I am the Way’
The Pope concluded his reflection pointing the way on “how
to reach Heaven.”
He said Jesus’s decisive phrase is: “I am the Way”, meaning
that the way to go up to Heaven is Jesus: to have a living relationship with
Him, to imitate Him in love, to follow in His footsteps.”
Christians, he said, must ask themselves if they are on
paths that do not lead to Heaven, such as the paths of power, of worldliness,
of self-affirmation.
And he invited them to follow Jesus’s way which is “the way
of humble love, of prayer, of meekness, of trust.”
“It is not the way of my self-centeredness, it
is the way of Jesus, Who is the center of my life. It is to go
ahead every day saying: “Jesus, what do You think of this choice I made? What
would You do in this situation, with these people?”.
Let us ask Jesus, he said for the directions to get to
Heaven, and may Our Lady help us to follow HIm.
Mother's Day
After the recitation of the Regina Caeli prayer, the Pope
marked Mother's Day asking for prayers for mothers' across the globe, and for
those who are in heaven.
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