Pope Francis prays at the Wednesday general audience in St. Peter's Square on Oct. 2, 2013. Credit: Elise Harris/EWTN.
In his general audience the day after terrorist attacks in Belgium
claimed the lives of at least 30 people and injured 230 more, Pope
Francis led pilgrims in a moment of silent prayer for the victims and
their families.
“With a sorrowful heart I have followed the sad
news of the terrorist attacks which took place yesterday in Brussels,
and which caused numerous victims and wounded,” the Pope said March 23.
Assuring
his prayer for the victims and their families, he appealed to all
people of good will “to unite themselves in the unanimous condemnation
of these cruel abominations which are causing only death, terror and
horror.”
Francis asked faithful to persevere in prayer during the
events of Holy Week in order to “comfort afflicted hearts and to
convert the hearts of these people blinded by cruel fundamentalism.”
The
Pope then led pilgrims in praying a Hail Mary and observing a moment of
silence for the victims of yesterday’s attacks, for their families, and
for the entire Belgian people.
Pope Francis’ words came the day
after two explosions at the Brussels airport and a third a busy metro
stop killed at least 30 people and wounded 230 others, according to CNN.
The Islamic State militant group has claimed responsibility for the
attack.
In his general audience address, Pope Francis continued
his catechesis on mercy as understood in scripture, turning his
attention to the events of the Easter Triduum, which consists of the
days leading up to Jesus’ resurrection from the dead: Holy Thursday,
Good Friday and Holy Saturday.
Everything in the Triduum “speaks of mercy, because it makes visible the point to which the love of God arrives,” he said.
Francis
pointed to the passage in the Gospel of John in which the Evangelist
says that “having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them
until the end.”
The love of God “has no limits,” he observed,
adding “God truly offered himself for each one of us and didn’t spare
himself in anything.”
“The mystery that we adore in this Holy
Week is a great story of love which knows no obstacles,” the Pope
continued, noting that Jesus’ Passion endures to the end of the world,
since through it he shares in the suffering of the whole of humanity.
It
also speaks of Jesus’ permanent presence in the events of the personal
lives of each one of us, he said, explaining that the Triduum is
therefore “a memorial of a drama of love which gives us the certainty
that we will never be abandoned in the trials of life.”
Turning
to the events of Holy Thursday, when Jesus washed the feet of the
disciples and instituted the Eucharist during the Last Supper, Pope
Francis explained that when Jesus does these things, he is giving the
disciples a “firsthand example” of how they themselves will have to act.
The
Eucharist, he said, “is love made service. It’s the sublime presence of
Christ who desires to feed each person, above all the weakest,” in
order to enable them to follow a path of witness through the
difficulties of the world.
Additionally, Jesus attests that we
must learn to break with other forms of nourishment in order for our
lives to become a true communion with those in need, the Pope said.
Francis then turned to Good Friday, “the culminating moment of love” and the day in which Jesus died on the Cross.
Jesus’
abandonment to the Father and his death on the Cross express an
unending love which is given until the very last, he said, adding that
it is a love which “intends to embrace all, no one excluded.”
The
Pope encouraged faithful to imitate this love, saying that “if God has
demonstrated his supreme love to us in the death of Jesus, now also we,
regenerated by the Holy Spirit, can and must love one another.”
Speaking of Holy Saturday, when Jesus is enclosed in the tomb, Pope Francis said that it is “the day of God’s silence.”
“It
must be a day of silence,” he said, and encouraged faithful to do
everything possible be silent that day, and to imitate Mary, who
believed in her son and silently waited for his Resurrection.
When
Jesus is laid in the tomb, he shares “the drama of death” with all
humanity, Francis said, explaining that God’s silence “speaks and
expresses love as solidarity with the abandoned forever.”
The Son
of God is the one who fills this void of abandonment, “which only the
infinite mercy of the Father can achieve,” the Pope said.
Pope Francis closed his audience encouraging pilgrims to let themselves be “enveloped” by God’s mercy during Holy Week.
He
prayed that throughout the week, “while we have our eyes fixed on the
passion and death of the Lord, let us welcome in our heart the greatness
of his love, and like Mary in the silence of Holy Saturday, wait for
the resurrection.”
