Pope encourages Consecrated Life, stresses that God comes in pain

In St. Peter's Square with more than sixty thousand faithful, Pope Leo XIV today thanked the religious men and women gathered for the Jubilee of Consecrated Life for their "valuable service to the Gospel and to the Church (...)".

Do not tire of bearing witness to hope on the many frontiers of the modern world, knowing how to identify with missionary daring new paths of evangelization and human promotion," he said in Italian.

In the catechesis of the AudienceOn the occasion of the Jubilee Year, the Pope focused this morning on the exclamation of the disciples on the road to Emmaus. As Jesus was leaving, they said, 'Did not our hearts burn within us'" (Lk 24:32).

The Rosary for peace

He has also alluded to the Virgin Mary on numerous occasions when addressing pilgrims in various languages, today also in Croatian. 

For example, to the English language: "As I greet with special affection the religious and consecrated persons participating in the Jubilee of Consecrated Life, I encourage you to look to the Blessed Virgin Mary. She is 'the sublime model of consecration to the Father, union with the Son and openness to the Spirit' (Vita Consecrata, 28). May God bless you all!".

And to the German-speaking people: "Dear brothers and sisters, the month of October is dedicated to the prayer of the Holy Rosary. Therefore, I invite you all to pray the Rosary every day for peace in the world. May the Blessed Virgin Mary accompany you always".

The Risen One draws near in darkness and suffering

In its meditation On the disciples of Emmaus, one of the Pope's conclusions was to see the Lord in pain and suffering.

At Christ's Passover, "everything can become grace. Even the most ordinary things: eating, working, waiting, taking care of the house, supporting a friend," he began.

The Resurrection does not take the life out of time and effort, but changes their meaning and their "flavor" (...). (...) However, there is an obstacle that often prevents us from recognizing this presence of Christ in everyday life: the pretension that joy must be without wounds".

Unable to smile...

The disciples of Emmaus walked sadly because they expected another ending, a Messiah who did not know the cross, the Pontiff pointed out. "Despite having heard that the tomb is empty, they are unable to smile." 

But Jesus is at their side and, with patience, helps them to understand that pain is not the denial of the promise, but the way in which God has manifested the measure of his love (cf. Lk 24:13-27). 

"When at last they sit down at table with him and break bread, their eyes are opened. And they realize that their hearts were already burning, though they did not know it (cf. Lk 24:28-32)." 

No fall is definitive

This is the greatest surprise: to discover that beneath the ashes of disenchantment and weariness there is always a live ember, waiting to be rekindled, the Pope encouraged.

"Brothers and sisters, Christ's resurrection teaches us that there is no history so marked by disappointment or sin that it cannot be visited by hope. 

No fall is final, no night is eternal, no wound is destined to remain open forever".

Jesus comes in our failures, in our pain, in our pain.

Sometimes we think that the Lord only comes to visit us in moments of recollection or spiritual fervor, when we feel strong, when our life seems orderly and luminous, reflected Leo XIV.

"Instead, the Risen One draws near in the darkest places: in our failures, in worn-out relationships, in the daily toils that weigh on our shoulders, in the doubts that discourage us. Nothing of what we are, no fragment of our existence is alien to him". 

The joy of starting over

"Let us ask, then, for the grace to recognize his humble and discreet presence, not to expect a life without trials, to discover that every pain, if it is inhabited by love, can become a place of communion."

"And so, as the disciples of EmmausWe too return to our homes with a heart that burns with joy. A simple joy that does not erase the wounds, but illuminates them. A joy that is born of the certainty that the Lord is alive, that he walks with us and gives us at every moment the possibility to start again".