Noting how we are remembering this week the innocent Jesus facing a brutal injustice, Pope Francis offered the Mass of April 7 for those who suffer injustice because of persecution.
He focused his homily on the prophecy from Isaiah recorded in the First Reading, saying that it was a prophecy about the Messiah, about the people of Israel, but also “we can say that it is a prophecy about each one of us.”
The People of God was chosen before birth: each one of us as well. None of us fell into the world by coincidence, by chance. Each one has his destiny, a free destiny, the destiny of being chosen by God. I am born with the destiny of being a son of God, of being a servant of God, with the task of serving, of building, of developing. And this, from the maternal womb.
The pope spoke of Jesus’ service unto death, which shows us how we should live in service as well. “To serve is glory; the glory of Christ is to serve to the point of emptying himself unto death, death on the cross.”
The Lord has chosen us from the womb, the pope repeated, even though as we go through life, we will all fall: “Each one of us is sinner and can fall, and has fallen. … but the important thing is our attitude before God who chose me, who anointed me as a servant.”
The Holy Father urged us to be like Peter, who repented when he fell. “This is the path of the servant: When he slips, when he falls, he asks pardon. In contrast, when the servant cannot understand that he has fallen, when passion takes hold of him in such a way that it leads him to idolatry, he opens his heart to Satan, he enters into the night: This is what happened to Judas.”
Let us ask for the grace of persevering in service. Sometimes with slips, with falls, but with the grace to at least weep as Peter wept.
Read more:
Pope: What would have happened if Judas had met Our Lady on his way to kill himself?
And today we celebrate...