Pope
Francis delivered the homily at Mass in Saint Peter's Square on Palm Sunday -
the beginning of Holy Week, 2015.
“At the heart of this
celebration, which seems so festive, are the words we heard in the hymn of the
Letter to the Philippians: “He humbled himself” (2:8). Jesus’
humiliation.
These words show us God’s
way and the way of Christians: it is humility. A way which constantly
amazes and disturbs us: we will never get used to a humble God!
This week, Holy Week, which
leads us to Easter, we will take this path of Jesus’ own
humiliation. Only in this way will this week be “holy” for us too!
We will feel the contempt of
the leaders of his people and their attempts to trip him up. We will be
there at the betrayal of Judas, one of the Twelve, who will sell him for thirty
pieces of silver. We will see the Lord arrested and carried off like a
criminal; abandoned by his disciples, dragged before the Sanhedrin, condemned
to death, beaten and insulted. We will hear Peter, the “rock” among the
disciples, deny him three times. We will hear the shouts of the crowd,
egged on by their leaders, who demand that Barabas be freed and Jesus
crucified. We will see him mocked by the soldiers, robed in purple and
crowned with thorns. And then, as he makes his sorrowful way beneath the
cross, we will hear the jeering of the people and their leaders, who scoff at
his being King and Son of God.
This is God’s way, the way of
humility…
There is another way, however,
opposed to the way of Christ. It is worldliness, the way of the
world. The world proposes the way of vanity, pride, success… the
other way. The Evil One proposed this way to Jesus too, during his forty
days in the desert. But Jesus immediately rejected it. With him, we
too can overcome this temptation, not only at significant moments, but in daily
life as well.
In this, we are helped and
comforted by the example of so many men and women who, in silence and hiddenness, sacrifice themselves daily to serve others.…
We think too of the humiliation
endured by all those who, for their lives of fidelity to the Gospel, encounter
discrimination and pay a personal price.
We think too of our brothers and
sisters who are persecuted because they are Christians, the martyrs of our own time. They refuse to deny
Jesus and they endure insult and injury with dignity….
Let us set about with
determination along this same path, with immense love for him, our Lord and
Saviour. Love will guide us and give us strength.
For where he is, we too shall be (cf. Jn 12:26).
Amen.”
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