On the morning of May 21, Pope Leo XIV held his first General Audience in St. Peter's Square, with more than forty thousand faithful, in which he meditated on the parable of the sower.
Some special notes of the Audience were "the gratitude to our beloved Pope Francis"; the words in English to the English-speaking pilgrims; his invitation to pray the Rosary for peace in this Marian month of May, formulated to the Portuguese-speaking faithful (with express reference to Our Lady of Fatima) and to the Arabic-speaking faithful; and the greeting after the Blessing to various ecclesiastical personalities, whom he received standing, with a handshake.
He has also prayed for peacewith express mention of the Gaza Strip. He focused in particular on the need for humanitarian aid, especially for children, the elderly and the sick, and added that "we are called to sow hope and build peace".
Gratitude to Pope Francis
The words about Pope Francis were the following: "And we cannot end our meeting without remembering with such gratitude our beloved Pope Francis, who just a month ago returned to the Father's house."
The new Pope Leo XIV said that he was resuming the cycle of catechesis for the Jubilee Year, 'Jesus Christ, our hope', and focused his meditation on the theme '....The sower He spoke to them of many things in parables', taken from St. Matthew, 13.
Catechesis on Jesus Christ, our hope
"I am happy to welcome you to my first general audience. I am resuming the cycle of Jubilee catecheses on the theme 'Jesus Christ, Our Hope,' initiated by Pope Francis," he said.
"Today we will continue to meditate on the parables of Jesus, which help us to recover hope, because they show us how God works in history."
And he stopped at "a parable that is a bit particular, because it is a kind of introduction to all the parables. I am referring to that of the sower (cf. Mt 13,1-17). In a certain sense, in this story we can recognize Jesus' way of communicating, which has much to teach us for the proclamation of the Gospel today".
Pope Leo XIV has stated: "Parables are a way in which the Lord communicates his Word to us so that it questions and challenges us, provoking in us a response to the question that underlies the narrative he is telling us: Where do I fit into this story? What does it say to my life?"
Calculation is not valid in love
Commenting on the parable of the sower, the Pope pointed out that it is about a "sower, quite original, who goes out to sow, but does not worry about where the seed falls. He throws it even where it is unlikely to bear fruit".
"We are accustomed to calculating things - and sometimes it is necessary - but this does not apply to love! The way in which this 'wasteful' sower throws the seed is an image of the way in which God loves us," the Pope said.
"God trusts and hopes that sooner or later the seed will blossom," he reiterated. "He loves us like this: he does not wait for us to be the best soil, he always generously gives us his word."
Van Gogh, 'The Sower at Sunset', image of hope
The Pontiff referred here to "that beautiful painting by Van Gogh: 'The Sower at Sunset'. That image of the sower under the scorching sun speaks to me also of the peasant's effort. And I am struck by the fact that, behind the sower, Van Gogh has represented the ripe wheat. It seems to me an image of hope: one way or another, the seed has borne fruit. We don't quite know how, but that's how it is.
Finally, Leo XIV encouraged us to "ask the Lord for the grace to always welcome this seed which is his word. And if we realize that we are not fertile ground, let us not be discouraged, but let us ask him to continue to work in us so that we may become better ground".
