The Pope in Corpus Christi: “Let us enlarge our hearts”

Mireia Bonilla – Vatican City

On the afternoon of Sunday, June 6, the Pontiff presided over the Holy Mass of Corpus Christi Jesus from the altar of the Cathedral of the Vatican Basilica, stopping, during his homily, to explain how we can prepare today the Passover of the Lord. as the disciples prepared the place where they were going to celebrate the paschal meal – and understood which places in our life the Lord asks us to receive him. His answers ended in three images of the Gospel:

The first picture: the man carrying a jug of water

Jesus told his people that wherever a man leads them with a pitcher of water, the Passover meal can be celebrated there. “This man, totally anonymous, becomes a guide for the disciples who are looking for the place which will later be called the Cenacle. And the water jug ​​is the sign to recognize it. A sign that leads us to think of thirsty humanity, always in search of a source of water to satisfy and regenerate it ”, declared Pope Francis. But – he says – this symbolic “sign” refers to the fact that, to quench this thirst, the water of worldly things is useless “because it is a deeper thirst, which only God can satisfy”.

Thus, the Pope explains that in order to celebrate the Eucharist “we must first recognize our thirst for God: feel the need for him, desire his presence and his love, be aware that we cannot go forward alone”. we often see that the thirst has disappeared: “The questions about God are extinguished, the desire for Him has vanished, seekers of God are becoming more and more rare. God no longer attracts because we no longer feel our deep thirst ”. Therefore, Francis’ invitation is that as a Church, the small group of regulars who come together to celebrate the Eucharist cannot be enough; “You have to go to the city, meet the people, learn to recognize and awaken the thirst for God and the desire for the Gospel.

The second photo: the spacious bedroom on the upper floor

This is where Jesus and his people will celebrate the paschal supper and this room is in the house of a person who welcomes them. It is – says the Pope – “a spacious room for a small piece of bread”. God makes himself as small as a piece of bread and that is precisely why it takes a big heart to be able to recognize him, adore him and welcome him: “The presence of God is so humble, hidden, sometimes invisible, that in order to be recognized, we need a prepared, awake and welcoming heart ”, explains the Holy Father. In fact, he says, “If our heart doesn’t have a large room, it looks like a storehouse where we longingly store things from the past; if it looks like an attic where we have long left our enthusiasm and our dreams; If it looks like a narrow and dark room because we only live on ourselves, our problems and our bitterness, then it will be impossible to recognize this silent and humble presence of God ”.

Therefore, it highlights the Pope’s invitation to “widen the heart”, to “leave the small part of oneself and enter the large space of wonder and adoration”. In addition, he also invites the Church to be a large hall: “Not a small closed circle, but a community with open arms, welcoming to all”. “The Church of the perfect and the pure – he says – is a room in which there is no room for anyone; the Open Doors Church, which celebrates around Christ is, on the contrary, a large room where everyone can enter ”.

The third picture: Jesus breaking bread

It is the Eucharistic gesture par excellence, the gesture which identifies our faith, the place of our encounter with the Lord who offers himself to make us reborn to a new life. It is a “surprising” gesture, says the Pope, because until that moment the lambs were immolated and offered in sacrifice to God, “now it is Jesus who becomes the lamb and immolates himself to give us life”. Moreover, the Pope explains “that it is the Lord, who breaks no one, but breaks himself; it is the Lord, who does not ask for sacrifices, but sacrifices himself, it is the Lord, who does not ask for anything, but gives everything ”. At the end of his homily, the Pope recalls that, in order to celebrate and live the Eucharist, we are also called to live this love: “Because you cannot break Sunday bread if your heart is closed to the brothers. You cannot eat this Bread if you do not share the sufferings of the one in need ”.