During mass in the Casa Santa Marta, Pope Francis prayed for those who weep: “isolated people, people in quarantine; the elderly alone; hospitalized people and people in therapy; parents who see that since there is no salary, they will not be able to feed their children. " Ask for "the grace to cry", like "Jesus who was not ashamed to cry".
Vatican City (AsiaNews) - "Lord, may I cry with you, cry with your people who are suffering at this moment": this is the "grace" that Pope Francis said we should seek, so that our hearts may resemble "that of Jesus ", who cried for his friend Lazarus, and felt "compassion" for the people who followed him.
Francis celebrated mass in the Casa Santa Marta - even today streamed live online and without people, due to the pandemic - and he called this the "Sunday of tears".
The Sunday Gospel (5th of Lent, A, John, 11, 1-45), speaks of the resurrection of Lazarus and that in front of the sepulcher of his friend, “Jesus burst into tears. Jesus, God, but man, wept. "
In the introduction to the rite, the Pope also remembered all those who cry and are afflicted for what happens because of the coronavirus:
“I am thinking of the many people who are weeping”, Pope Francis said, introducing the liturgy for the Fifth Sunday of Lent at the Casa Santa Marta chapel. People who are isolated, in quarantine, the elderly; people who are alone, in the hospital, parents who do not foresee receiving their salary and do not know how they will feed their children, he continued.
“Many people are weeping. We too, from our hearts, accompany them. It wouldn’t do us any harm to weep a bit as our Lord wept for all of His people”.
“Jesus could not look at the people and not feel compassion. His eyes are connected to His heart. Jesus sees with His eyes, but He sees with His heart and is capable of weeping.”
With everything that is happening, with all the people who are crying because of the pandemic, the Pope invites us to ask ourselves if we are capable of weeping. “Am I capable of weeping, as Jesus would certainly have done and does now? Is my heart like Jesus’s? And if it is too hard, [even if] I can speak and do good in order to help, if my heart isn’t entering in and I’m not capable of weeping, ask the Lord for this grace: Lord, that I might weep with You, weep with your people who are suffering right now”.
The celebration ended - like every morning - with adoration and Eucharistic blessing.