Below
is the full text of Pope Francis’ address during the extraordinary Urbi et Orbi
blessing he delivered while praying for an end of the coronavirus.
“When
evening had come” (Mk 4:35). The Gospel passage we have just heard begins like
this. For weeks now it has been evening. Thick darkness has gathered over our
squares, our streets and our cities; it has taken over our lives, filling
everything with a deafening silence and a distressing void, that stops
everything as it passes by; we feel it in the air, we notice in people’s
gestures, their glances give them away. We find ourselves afraid and lost. Like
the disciples in the Gospel we were caught off guard by an unexpected,
turbulent storm. We have realized that we are on the same boat, all of us
fragile and disoriented, but at the same time important and needed, all of us
called to row together, each of us in need of comforting the other. On this
boat… are all of us. Just like those disciples, who spoke anxiously with one
voice, saying “We are perishing” (v. 38), so we too have realized that we
cannot go on thinking of ourselves, but only together can we do this.
It
is easy to recognize ourselves in this story. What is harder to understand is
Jesus’ attitude. While his disciples are quite naturally alarmed and desperate,
he stands in the stern, in the part of the boat that sinks first. And what does
he do? In spite of the tempest, he sleeps on soundly, trusting in the Father;
this is the only time in the Gospels we see Jesus sleeping. When he wakes up,
after calming the wind and the waters, he turns to the disciples in a
reproaching voice: “Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?” (v. 40).
Let
us try to understand. In what does the lack of the disciples’ faith consist, as
contrasted with Jesus’ trust? They had not stopped believing in him; in fact,
they called on him. But we see how they call on him: “Teacher, do you not care
if we perish?” (v. 38). Do you not care: they think that Jesus is not
interested in them, does not care about them. One of the things that hurts us
and our families most when we hear it said is: “Do you not care about me?” It
is a phrase that wounds and unleashes storms in our hearts. It would have
shaken Jesus too. Because he, more than anyone, cares about us. Indeed, once
they have called on him, he saves his disciples from their discouragement.
The
storm exposes our vulnerability and uncovers those false and superfluous
certainties around which we have constructed our daily schedules, our projects,
our habits and priorities. It shows us how we have allowed to become dull and
feeble the very things that nourish, sustain and strengthen our lives and our
communities. The tempest lays bare all our prepackaged ideas and forgetfulness
of what nourishes our people’s souls; all those attempts that anesthetize us
with ways of thinking and acting that supposedly “save” us, but instead prove
incapable of putting us in touch with our roots and keeping alive the memory of
those who have gone before us. We deprive ourselves of the antibodies we need
to confront adversity.
In
this storm, the façade of those stereotypes with which we camouflaged our egos,
always worrying about our image, has fallen away, uncovering once more that
(blessed) common belonging, of which we cannot be deprived: our belonging as
brothers and sisters.
Like
the disciples, we will experience that with him on board there will be no
shipwreck. Because this is God’s strength: turning to the good everything that
happens to us, even the bad things. He brings serenity into our storms, because
with God life never dies.
“Why
are you afraid? Have you no faith?” Lord, your word this evening strikes us and
regards us, all of us. In this world, that you love more than we do, we have
gone ahead at breakneck speed, feeling powerful and able to do anything. Greedy
for profit, we let ourselves get caught up in things, and lured away by haste.
We did not stop at your reproach to us, we were not shaken awake by wars or
injustice across the world, nor did we listen to the cry of the poor or of our
ailing planet. We carried on regardless, thinking we would stay healthy in a
world that was sick. Now that we are in a stormy sea, we implore you: “Wake up,
Lord!”.
“Why
are you afraid? Have you no faith?” Lord, you are calling to us, calling us to
faith. Which is not so much believing that you exist, but coming to you and
trusting in you. This Lent your call reverberates urgently: “Be converted!”,
“Return to me with all your heart” (Joel 2:12). You are calling on us to seize
this time of trial as a time of choosing. It is not the time of your judgement,
but of our judgement: a time to choose what matters and what passes away, a
time to separate what is necessary from what is not. It is a time to get our
lives back on track with regard to you, Lord, and to others. We can look to so
many exemplary companions for the journey, who, even though fearful, have
reacted by giving their lives. This is the force of the Spirit poured out and
fashioned in courageous and generous self-denial. It is the life in the Spirit
that can redeem, value and demonstrate how our lives are woven together and
sustained by ordinary people – often forgotten people – who do not appear in
newspaper and magazine headlines nor on the grand catwalks of the latest show,
but who without any doubt are in these very days writing the decisive events of
our time: doctors, nurses, supermarket employees, cleaners, caregivers,
providers of transport, law and order forces, volunteers, priests, religious
men and women and so very many others who have understood that no one reaches
salvation by themselves. In the face of so much suffering, where the authentic
development of our peoples is assessed, we experience the priestly prayer of
Jesus: “That they may all be one” (Jn 17:21). How many people every day are
exercising patience and offering hope, taking care to sow not panic but a
shared responsibility. How many fathers, mothers, grandparents and teachers are
showing our children, in small everyday gestures, how to face up to and
navigate a crisis by adjusting their routines, lifting their gaze and fostering
prayer. How many are praying, offering and interceding for the good of all.
Prayer and quiet service: these are our victorious weapons.
“Why
are you afraid? Have you no faith”? Faith begins when we realise we are in need
of salvation. We are not self-sufficient; by ourselves we founder: we need the
Lord, like ancient navigators needed the stars. Let us invite Jesus into the
boats of our lives. Let us hand over our fears to him so that he can conquer
them. Like the disciples, we will experience that with him on board there will
be no shipwreck. Because this is God’s strength: turning to the good everything
that happens to us, even the bad things. He brings serenity into our storms,
because with God life never dies.
The
Lord asks us and, in the midst of our tempest, invites us to reawaken and put
into practice that solidarity and hope capable of giving strength, support and
meaning to these hours when everything seems to be floundering. The Lord
awakens so as to reawaken and revive our Easter faith. We have an anchor: by
his cross we have been saved. We have a rudder: by his cross we have been
redeemed. We have a hope: by his cross we have been healed and embraced so that
nothing and no one can separate us from his redeeming love. In the midst of
isolation when we are suffering from a lack of tenderness and chances to meet
up, and we experience the loss of so many things, let us once again listen to
the proclamation that saves us: he is risen and is living by our side. The Lord
asks us from his cross to rediscover the life that awaits us, to look towards
those who look to us, to strengthen, recognize and foster the grace that lives
within us. Let us not quench the wavering flame (cf. Is 42:3) that never
falters, and let us allow hope to be rekindled.
The
Lord awakens so as to reawaken and revive our Easter faith.
Embracing
his cross means finding the courage to embrace all the hardships of the present
time, abandoning for a moment our eagerness for power and possessions in order
to make room for the creativity that only the Spirit is capable of inspiring.
It means finding the courage to create spaces where everyone can recognize that
they are called, and to allow new forms of hospitality, fraternity and
solidarity. By his cross we have been saved in order to embrace hope and let it
strengthen and sustain all measures and all possible avenues for helping us
protect ourselves and others. Embracing the Lord in order to embrace hope: that
is the strength of faith, which frees us from fear and gives us hope.
“Why
are you afraid? Have you no faith”? Dear brothers and sisters, from this place
that tells of Peter’s rock-solid faith, I would like this evening to entrust
all of you to the Lord, through the intercession of Mary, Health of the People
and Star of the stormy Sea. From this colonnade that embraces Rome and the
whole world, may God’s blessing come down upon you as a consoling embrace.
Lord, may you bless the world, give health to our bodies and comfort our
hearts. You ask us not to be afraid. Yet our faith is weak and we are fearful.
But you, Lord, will not leave us at the mercy of the storm. Tell us again: “Do
not be afraid” (Mt 28:5). And we, together with Peter, “cast all our anxieties
onto you, for you care about us” (cf. 1 Pet 5:7).
___________________________
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Pope Francis will offer an extraordinary blessing of Urbi et Orbi on Friday, March 27, 2020 at 1 p.m. Eastern Time (6 p.m. Rome time).
All those who are present for the blessing via TV, radio or the internet, and who are truly sorry for their sins, can have the possibility of receiving a plenary indulgence.
The Urbi et Orbi blessing (which means “to the city of Rome and to the world”) is performed from the balcony to St. Peter’s Square when a new pope is elected and on Christmas and Easter Sunday. On this occasion, St. Peter’s Square will be empty as Italy is in lockdown because of coronavirus.
Vatican News reports that the ceremony will:
“Consist in readings from the Scriptures, prayers of supplication, and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament; and will conclude with Pope Francis giving the Urbi et orbi blessing.”
Catholics in the Archdiocese of Toronto can watch the Urbi et Orbi blessing live on Salt+Light TV this Friday at 1 p.m. Eastern Time (click here for information on how to watch Salt+Light).
To read the decree, click here.
