Pope: Believe that Jesus can heal us and awaken us from death?
Vatican City (AsiaNews) - "Do we really believe that Jesus can heal us and awaken us from the dead?". This was the question that Pope Francis posed to the faithful and pilgrims gathered in St Peter's Square for the Angelus.
The Pope said he saw this as the key question, the real message that is hidden in today's Sunday Gospel (13th in the year, B, Mark 5, 21-43), which recounts two episodes of the life of Jesus.
There is first of all that of the healing of Jairus' daughter, who was dead ("Here - said the Pope - we see the absolute power of Jesus over physical death, that for HIm it is like a sleep from which we can awaken").
And then there is the healing of the woman who for 12 years suffered from blood loss. Francis said: "Because of this disease, according to the culture of the time, she was 'impure', she must avoid all human contact was condemned to civil death". But "the need to be liberated drives her to dare and the faith 'rips', so to speak, healing from the Lord.
Those who believe 'touches' Jesus and draws from him the grace that saves. " Through Jesus, "it is the voice of the heavenly Father who speaks ...: 'Daughter, you are cursed, you are not excluded, you are my daughter!'". And the Pope then added off the cuff: "Every time that Jesus comes to us, when we go to him in faith, we hear this word: 'You are my son, you are my daughter, I heal everything and everyone."
"These two incidents - of healing and resurrection - have a single center: the faith. The message is clear, and can be summed up in one question: do we believe that Jesus can heal us and awaken us from death? The whole Gospel is written in the light of faith: Jesus is risen, he has conquered death, and because of this victory we will be resurrected. This faith, which for the first Christians was certain, can become tarnished and uncertain, to the point that some confuse resurrection with reincarnation. The Word of God this Sunday invites us to live in the certainty of the resurrection: Jesus is Lord, has power over evil and death, and wants to bring us to the Father's house, where life reigns. And there we will all meet again, all those who are here in the square ... in the house of the Father. "
"The Resurrection of Christ - said the pontiff - acts in history as the beginning of renewal and hope. Anyone who is desperate and tired to death, if they believe in Jesus and his love, can start living again. Changing our lives is also resurrection.
Faith is a force of life, it gives fullness to our humanity, and those who believe in Christ, must be recognized by how they promote life in every situation, so that all can share, especially the weakest, in the love of God who frees and saves . We ask the Lord, through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, for the gift of a strong faith and courage, that pushes us to be speakers of hope and of life among our brothers. "
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