Canonization of Blessed John Paul II And Blessed John XXIII

Below is the English translation of the sermon delivered at the Mass to celebrate the canonization of Blessed John Paul II and John XXIII at St. Peter’s Square, today, the second Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy Sunday).

[simpleazon-image align=”left” asin=”0847836312″ locale=”us” height=”375″ src=”http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41pTk0M2QxL.jpg” width=”238″]In the center of this Sunday , the Octave of Easter and St. John Paul II wanted closes to devote to the mercy of God , there is the glorious wounds of the risen Jesus.

He already showed her the first time to the apostles appeared on the evening of the same day after the Sabbath , the day of resurrection. But this evening, as we have heard , there was Thomas; and when others told him that she had seen the Lord, he replied that if he had seen and touched the wounds it would not be believed. Eight days later, Jesus appeared again in the upper room, was in the midst of the disciples , Thomas ; turned to him and asked him to touch his wounds. So sincere man , the man , accustomed to see for himself, he knelt before Jesus and said, ” My Lord and my God ” ( John 20:28 ) .

The wounds of Jesus are an obstacle to faith, but also the test of faith . For this reason, in the body of the risen Christ wounds do not go away , remain , because these wounds are the permanent sign of God’s love for us, and are not necessary to believe in God to believe that God exists, but to believe that God is love, mercy and faithfulness. St. Peter under Isaiah writes to the Christians : ” By his wounds you have been healed ” (1 Peter 2:24 , cf Is 53:5 ) .

St. John XXIII and John Paul II had the courage to look at the wounds of Jesus , touching pierced his injured hands and his side . They had no shame of the flesh of Christ, you will not be offended by him , of his cross ; not ashamed of the flesh of his brother (cf. Isa 58.7 ), since suffering in every human being , Jesus saw two men were brave , full of openness of the Holy Spirit , and were witnesses of the church and carried to the world the goodness of God , his mercy.

There were priests , bishops and popes of the twentieth century. I have known tragedies , but none was overwhelmed. Stronger in them , it was God ; stronger was the belief in Jesus Christ , the Redeemer of man, and the Lord of history ; stronger in them was the grace of God which is manifested in these five wounds; the stronger was the maternal closeness of Mary.

In these two men Contemplative of the wounds of Christ and witnesses of his grace lived ” a living hope ” along with a ” joy unspeakable and full of glory ” (1 Peter 1,3.8 ) . The hope and joy that the Risen Christ gives to his disciples , and of which nothing and no one can take them to the top, ad nauseum by the bitterness of the cup. the hope and the joy of Easter, passed through the crucible of the looting, the emptiness , the proximity to the sinners. These are the hope and the joy of the two holy popes have received the gift of the Risen Lord and turn to the God have a lot of people donated , receive eternal gratitude.

This hope and joy in the first community of believers in Jerusalem , in Acts ( cf. 2:42-47 ) , we breathed mentioned heard in the second reading. It is a community in which you live the essence of the Gospel , that is, the love , the grace , the simplicity and brotherhood.

And this is the image of the Church , which is held the Second Vatican Council before him. John XXIII and John Paul II have worked together with the Holy Spirit to restore after its original appearance , the sign that gave the Saints over the centuries and an upgrade of the Church. Do not forget that grow the saints who run and make the Church . The convening of the Second John XXIII showed a mild docility to the Holy Spirit , it will leave to lead the Church and is a shepherd, a rail-guided , guided by the Spirit . That was his great service to the Church ; for I like to think of it as the Pope of docility to the Holy Spirit . this service to the People of God, John Paul II was the Pope of the family. So when he said to himself that he will be remembered as the Pope of the family wanted. I like to emphasize , as we . In a synodal life of the family and with the family, a journey that surely accompanied and supported him from the sky.

That these two new saints shepherds of God’s people , pray for the Church , so that in these two years of synodal process , and docile to the Holy Spirit in the pastoral care of the family. That both not teach us shock the wounds of Christ in the mystery of divine mercy which always hopes , dive, always forgive , because love always .