(Vatican Radio) During Holy Week, we should stop to think about how much "patience"
God has for each one of us. This was Pope Francis’s advice Monday morning for the
men and women who work at the Vatican. As has become tradition since his election,
the Holy Father led Mass for Monday of Holy Week, in the small chapel of the Casa
Santa Marta, where he is staying until renovation work is completed on the papal apartments.
Emer McCarthy reports:
Joining him
Monday were also journalists from the Osservatore Romano. He said “The emblem of the
infinite patience that God has for man is reflected in the infinite patience that
Jesus has for Judas”.
Pope Francis was inspired by the scene of today's Gospel,
in which Judas criticizes Mary, sister of Lazarus, for anointing Jesus' feet with
three hundred grams of precious perfume: it would be better - says Judas – to sell
it and give the proceeds to the poor. John noted in the Gospel that Judas was not
interested in the poor, but in stealing the money.
Yet, Pope Francis said,
"Jesus did not say: 'You are a thief.’”. Instead “he was patient with Judas, trying
to draw him closer through patience, his love. During Holy Week, we would do well
to think of the patience of God, the patience that God has with each one of us, with
our weaknesses, our sins. "
"The patience of God is a mystery!", Pope Francis
said. "How much patience he has with us! We do so many things, but He is patient”.
The Holy Father likened him to the father in the Gospel, who , "saw his son
from afar, the son who had left him with all of his inheritance." And why, the Pope
asked, did he see him from afar? "Because every day he went out to see if his child
would return". This, Pope Francis affirmed, "is God's patience, this is the patience
of Jesus."
He concluded: "Let us think of our personal relationship, in this
week: How patient has Jesus been with me in my life? Just this. And then the words
will rise from our hearts: 'Thank you, Lord! Thank you for your patience. "