Pope Francis’ general audience in the San Damaso Courtyard of the Apostolic Palace, June 16, 2021./ Vatican Media.
Catholics should take courage in the fact that even as Jesus was dying on the cross, his most agonizing moment on earth, he was praying for them, Pope Francis said Wednesday.
Speaking during his weekly general audience June 16, the pope noted that “even in the most painful of our sufferings, we are never alone.”
“Jesus prays for me: each one of us can take this to heart. We must not forget. Even in the worst moments. We are already welcomed into Jesus’ dialogue with the Father in the communion of the Holy Spirit,” he said.
The general audience, which was held in the Vatican’s San Damaso Courtyard, was Francis’ final catechesis on prayer before starting a new theme next week.
Pope Francis said it was beautiful to remember that not only do we receive grace through our own prayers, but that we have also been prayed for by Jesus to the Father.
“We were willed by Christ Jesus, and even in the hour of His passion, death, and resurrection, everything was offered for us,” he observed.
“And so, with prayer and with life, there remains only to have courage and hope, and with this courage and hope, to feel the prayer of Jesus strongly and to keep on going,” he said, “so that our life may be one of giving glory to God in the knowledge that he prays for me to the Father, that Jesus prays for me.”
In his address, Pope Francis recalled the importance of prayer in the course of Jesus’ life and mission, as testified by the Gospels.
“Jesus immersed himself in [prayer], because the dialogue with the Father was the incandescent core of all his existence,” he said, noting that Jesus’ prayer became even more intense as he neared the time of his passion and death.
“These culminating events constitute the central core of Christian preaching,” he explained. “Those last hours lived by Jesus in Jerusalem are the heart of the Gospel not only because the Evangelists reserve proportionally greater space to this narrative, but also because the event of His death and resurrection — like a flash of lightning — sheds light on the rest of Jesus’ life.”
The pope also emphasized that Jesus was not a mere philanthropist who cared about human suffering: In Jesus, there is “total salvation, messianic salvation, that gives hope in the definitive victory of life over death.”
Source: CNA