17 April 2013: Pope Francis held his weekly general audience in the open in St. Peter’s
Square in the Vatican on Wednesday. Such audiences are public meetings where pilgrims
and tourists who come to Rome have a chance of seeing and hearing the Pope speak and
also receive his blessing. The general audience of April 17 began with several aides
reading a passage from the Gospel of Luke in several languages. Pope Francis delivered
his main discourse in Italian. Various aides presented him the language groups attending
the audience, and greeted him on their behalf. The aides then read summaries of the
Pope’s catechesis in in various languages, including in English. Listen:
Dear
brothers and sisters, in the Creed, we find the affirmation that Jesus "ascended
into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father." The earthly life of Jesus
culminates in the event of the Ascension, that is, when he passes from this world
to the Father, and is lifted up to His right hand side. What is the significance of
this event? What are the consequences for our lives? What does it mean to contemplate
Jesus sitting at the right hand of the Father? Let us be guided by the Evangelist
Luke. We begin from the moment Jesus decides to embark on his last pilgrimage
to Jerusalem. St. Luke notes: " When the days for his being taken up were fulfilled,
he resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem" (Lk 9:51). While he "ascends" to
the Holy City, where his "exodus" from this life will be accomplished, Jesus already
sees the goal, Heaven, but he knows that the path that brings him back to the glory
of God passes through the Cross, through obedience to the divine plan of love for
humanity. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that " the lifting up of Jesus
on the cross signifies and announces his lifting up by his Ascension into heaven,
and indeed begins it" (n. 661). We too must be clear in our Christian life, that to
enter into the glory of God requires daily fidelity to His will, even when it requires
sacrifice, when at times it requires us to change our plans. The Ascension of Jesus
actually happened on the Mount of Olives, near the place where he had retired in prayer
before his passion to be in profound union with the Father; once again we see that
prayer gives us the grace to faithfully live out God's project for us. At
the end of his Gospel, St. Luke narrates the event of the Ascension in a very synthetic
way. Jesus led the disciples "[out] as far as Bethany, raised his hands, and blessed
them. As he blessed them he parted from them and was taken up to heaven. They did
him homage and then returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and they were continually
in the temple praising God "(24.50 to 53). I would like to note two elements of the
passage. First, during the Ascension Jesus fulfilled the priestly gesture of blessing
and certainly the disciples express their faith with prostration, they kneel and bow
their heads. This is a first important point: Jesus is the only and eternal Priest,
who with his passed through death and the tomb and rose again and ascended into Heaven;
He is with God the Father, where he always intercedes in our favor (cf. Heb 9:24).
As St John writes in his First Letter, He is our advocate, our advocate with the Father
(cf. 2:1-2). It’s nice to hear this. The first thing we do when we are called by a
judge or are called to trial, the first thing we do is look for an advocate to defend
us. We have One who always defends us. He defends us from the insidiousness of the
Devil, He defends us from ourselves, from our sins. But, dear brothers and sisters,
we have this advocate. We must not be afraid to turn to Him, to turn to him with our
fears, to ask for his blessing and mercy. He always forgives us, He is our advocate,
He always defends us. We must never forget this. The Ascension of Jesus into heaven
then reveals to us this reality that is so comforting for our journey: in Christ,
true God and true man, our humanity was brought to God; He has opened the passage
up for us, He is like a leader at the head of the rope when you scale a mountain,
who has reached the summit and draws us up to him leading us to God . If we entrust
our lives to Him, if we let ourselves be guided by Him we are sure to be in safe hands.
In the hands of our Savoir, our advocate. A second element: St Luke mentions
that the apostles, after seeing Jesus ascending to heaven, returned to Jerusalem "with
great joy." This seems a bit strange. Typically when we are separated from our families,
our friends, in a lasting separation, above all because of death, we are naturally
sad, because we will no longer see their face, or hear their voice, we will no longer
be able to enjoy their affection, their presence. Instead, the evangelist emphasizes
the profound joy of the Apostles. How come? Because, with the eyes of faith, they
understand that although subtracted from their eyes, Jesus remains with them forever,
He is not abandoning them, and in the glory of the Father, supports them, guides them
and intercedes for them. St. Luke narrates the fact of the Ascension in
the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles, to emphasize that this event is like the
ring that engages and connects the earthly life of Jesus to that of the Church. Here
St. Luke also mentions the cloud that took Jesus out of sight of the disciples, who
remain to contemplate Christ ascending to God (cf. Acts 1:9-10). Then two men in white
robes intervene, urging them not to remain looking at the sky, but to nourish their
lives and their witness from the certainty that Jesus will return in the same way
they saw him ascend into heaven (Acts 1: 10-11). It is an invitation to begin from
the contemplation of the Lordship of Jesus, to receive from him the strength to carry
and bear witness to the Gospel in everyday life: contemplation and action, ora et
labora St. Benedict teaches, are both necessary in our lives as Christians. Dear
brothers and sisters, the Ascension does not indicate the absence of Jesus, but tells
us that He is alive among us in a new way; He is no longer in a definite place in
the world as He was before the Ascension; He is now in the lordship of God, present
in all space and time, next to each of us. We are never alone in our lives: We have
this advocate who waits for us, we are never alone, the Crucified and Risen Lord
guides us, and with us there are many brothers and sisters who in silence and obscurity,
in their family life and work, in their problems and difficulties, their joys and
hopes, live their faith every day and, together with us, bring to the world the lordship
of God's love. I offer a cordial welcome to the members of the Catholic
Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, and I assure them of my prayers for their
episcopal ministry. I also greet the priests of the Institute for Continuing Theological
Education at the Pontifical North American College. Upon all the English-speaking
visitors present at today’s Audience, including those from England, Denmark, Sweden,
Australia, India, Singapore, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Canada and the United States,
I invoke the joy and peace of the Risen Lord.
Pope Francis greeted the
various language groups present at the audience. Before concluding, the general audience,
he expressed his sorrow over the death, suffering and destruction caused by Tuesday’s
‘violent earthquake’ of 7.8 magnitude, that hit a border area of southern Iran and
Pakistan. “I raise a prayer to God for the victims and for all in pain and I wish
to manifest my closeness with the people of Iran and Pakistan,” the Pope said in Italian.
The Holy Father concluded Wednesday’s general audience blessing all those present. Receive
the Pope's blessing: