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EN — Cardinal Angelo Comastri was born on September 17, 1943, in Sorano, Italy in the province of Grosseto (in the Diocese of Pitigli-ano-Sovana-Orbe-tello in Italy). He was ordained a priest on March 11, 1967. In 1979he was nominated parish priest of Porto Santo Stefano (Argentario).On July 25, 1990, he was nominated Bishop of Massa Marittima-Piombino and on November 9, 1996, he was nominated Archbishop and Pontifical Delegate for the Shrine of Loreto. During Lent season of 2003, Pope John Paul II asked him to preach the spiritual exercises to the Roman Curia and On February 5, 2005, Pope John Paul II nominated him his Vicar General for Vatican City State and President of the Fabric of St. Peter as well as Coadjutor Archbishop of the Basilica of St. Peter.Pope Benedict XVI invited him to prepare the texts for the Stations of the Cross for the Good Friday celebration at the Colosseum back in 2006.
On October 31 of the same year the Pope nominated him Archpriest of the Basilica of St. Peter. He was created and proclaimed Cardinal by Benedict XVI in the consistory of 24 November 2007.On 21 February 2021, the Holy Father Francis accepted the resignation from his duties due to age limit. He is considered by all to be a great devotee of Our Lady.
ITA — Il cardinale Angelo Comastri è nato il 17 settembre 1943 a Sorano, in provincia di Grosseto (diocesi di Pitigli-ano-Sovana-Orbe-tello). È stato ordinato sacerdote l'11 marzo 1967. Nel 1979 è stato nominato parroco di Porto Santo Stefano (Argentario). Il 25 luglio 1990 è stato nominato vescovo di Massa Marittima-Piombino e il 9 novembre 1996 è stato nominato arcivescovo e delegato pontificio per il Santuario di Loreto. Durante la Quaresima del 2003, Papa Giovanni Paolo II gli ha chiesto di predicare gli esercizi spirituali alla Curia romana e il 5 febbraio 2005 lo ha nominato Vicario generale per lo Stato della Città del Vaticano e Presidente della Fabbrica di San Pietro, nonché Arcivescovo coadiutore della Basilica di San Pietro. Papa Benedetto XVI lo ha invitato a preparare i testi della Via Crucis per la celebrazione del Venerdì Santo al Colosseo nel 2006.
Il 31 ottobre dello stesso anno il Papa lo ha nominato Arciprete della Basilica di San Pietro; è stato creato e proclamato Cardinale da Benedetto XVI nel concistoro del 24 novembre 2007. Il 21 febbraio 2021, il Santo Padre Francesco ha accettato la rinuncia alle sue funzioni per raggiunti limiti di età.È considerato da tutti un grande devoto della Madonna.
EN — The evangelist Mark, recounting the beginning of Jesus' preaching, relates these words of his that are still relevant today: "The time has been fulfilled! Repent!".Why is the timefulfilled? The answer is the good news that we Christians bring to the world, and it is this: time is not empty, time is not a meaningless passing of days and years.No! This is not so, time has been filled by God, filled by His Presence.Indeed, the Father sent His Son in our time toset up His tent among us.So, God can be encountered! Indeed, more than that! God has become a shepherd to seek the lost sheep that is us, God has opened the door of His Heart and is waiting for us in the streets of our days. Going through the Holy Door means: "I want to meet the Lord; I want to take a step towards Him" But what is the first step?
The first indispensable step is to recognise ourselves as sinners, to recognise that we have made so many blunders, that we have attached ourselves to idols, i.e. to false gods, to false securities that, sooner or later, disappoint us and leave a bitter taste in the mouth. We all have a few false gods in the drawer of our hearts.
A false god is the pride that creeps in everywhere and makes us arrogant and closed like safes, closed to God and to our brothers and sisters.
False god is the selfishness that makes us see everything and everyone in function of our-selves, making us unsympathetic and incapable of fraternity.
A false god is money that gives us the illusion of being rich, while the true rich man is the one who gives everything and accumulates treasures for the Kingdom of Heaven.
False god is the jealousy that makes us suffer for the sake of others and makes us grumpy and intractable, and with eyes that distort our neighbour's faces.
It is necessary to throw away these idols and say with true humility and sincerity: "I have sinned! I made a mistake! I have been deceived by idols!"Having said this, we can immediately look up and see the merciful face of God and feel His arms holding us and saying: "I have waited so long for you! But change your life! Throw away your idols and follow me in the way of the commandment of love: a commandment that is lived out at all times of the day and with all the neigh-bours that I place beside you, without excluding none".
Let us pray that it will be so.
Our Lady, the Immaculate, gives us this consoling certainty: "The Mercy of God extends from generation to generation". That is: "Mercy is always young, it is always fresh, it is always present".Let us make use of this blessed hour and take advantage of the passing Lord, humbly expose the wounds of our wickedness and finally let the Lord heal us.In the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica, 16 scenes are depicted that photograph the story of God's mercy, which continually comes to us.Let us visit them together.
Angelo Card. Comastri -Vicar General Emeritus of His Holinessfor the Vatican City State
ITA — L'evangelista Marco, raccontando l'inizio della predicazione di Gesù, riporta queste sue parole che sono ancora attuali: “Il tempo è compiuto! Convertitevi!”. Perché il tempo è compiuto? La risposta è la buona notizia che noi cristiani portiamo al mondo, ed è questa: il tempo non è vuoto, il tempo non è un trascorrere di giorni e anni senza senso. No! Non è così, il tempo è stato riempito da Dio, riempito dalla sua Presenza. Infatti, il Padre ha mandato suo Figlio nel nostro tempo per porre la sua tenda in mezzo a noi. Quindi, Dio si può incontrare! Anzi, di più! Dio si è fatto pastore per cercare la pecora smarrita che siamo noi, Dio ha aperto la porta del suo Cuore e ci aspetta nelle strade dei nostri giorni. Attraversare la Porta Santa significa: “Voglio incontrare il Signore, voglio fare un passo verso di Lui”.Ma qual è il primo passo?
Il primo passo indispensabile è riconoscersi peccatori, riconoscere che abbiamo commesso tanti errori, che ci siamo attaccati a idoli, cioè a falsi dei, a false sicurezze che, prima o poi, ci deludono e lasciano l'amaro in bocca.Tutti abbiamo qualche falso dio nel cassetto del nostro cuore.
Un falso dio è l'orgoglio che si insinua ovunque e ci rende arroganti e chiusi come casseforti, chiusi a Dio e ai fratelli.
Falso dio è l'egoismo che ci fa vedere tutto e tutti in funzione di noi stessi, rendendoci indifferenti e incapaci di fraternità.
Un falso dio è il denaro che ci dà l'illusione di essere ricchi, mentre il vero ricco è colui che dà tutto e accumula tesori per il Regno dei cieli.
Falso dio è la gelosia che ci fa soffrire per il bene degli altri e ci rende scontrosi e intrattabili, con occhi che distorcono il volto del prossimo.
È necessario gettare via questi idoli e dire con vera umiltà e sincerità: “Ho peccato! Ho sbagliato! Sono stato ingannato dagli idoli!”. Detto questo, possiamo subito alzare lo sguardo e vedere il volto misericordioso di Dio e sentire le sue braccia che ci stringono e ci dicono: “Ti ho aspettato tanto! Ma cambia la tua vita! Getta via i tuoi idoli e seguimi nella via del comandamento dell'amore: un comandamento che si vive in ogni momento della giornata e con tutti i vicini che ti metto accanto, senza escludere nessuno”.
Preghiamo perché sia così.
La Madonna Immacolata ci dà questa consolante certezza: “La Misericordia di Dio si estende di generazione in generazione”. Cioè: “La Misericordia è sempre giovane, è sempre fresca, è sempre presente”. Approfittiamo di quest'ora benedetta e approfittiamo del Signore che passa, esponiamo con umiltà le ferite della nostra malvagità e lasciamo infine che il Signore ci guarisca. Nella Porta Santa della Basilica di San Pietro sono raffigurate 16 scene che fotografano la storia della misericordia di Dio, che continuamente ci viene incontro. Visitiamole insieme.
Angelo Card. Comastri - Vicario generale emerito di Sua Santità per lo Stato della Città del Vaticano
EMISIT EUM DOMINUS DEUS DE PARADISO EDEN -The Lord God drove him out of the Garden of Eden - Il Signore Dio lo cacciò dal giardino di Eden(Gen 3:23)
EN — The first panel of the Holy Door presents, at the bottom left, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil: coiled around it is the tempting serpent, who suggested to the woman to disobey God. And the woman "saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes, and the tree was desirable for gaining wisdom. So, she took some of its fruit and ate it; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked" (Gen 3:6-7). What a conquest!
Sin seems like a victory, but instead, it is a failure; it seems like the peak of freedom, but instead, it is the abyss of slavery; it seems to lead to happiness, but instead, it ends in bitter-ness.The prophet Jeremiah, with clear words, describes the self-punishing mechanism of sin.He addresses the sinners of his time and says:"What fault did your ancestors find in me that they withdrew from me, went after emptiness, and became empty themselves?" (Jer 2:5). And further he adds: "Know then, and see, how evil and bitter is your forsaking the LORD, your God" (Jer 2:19).Indeed, when man detaches himself from God, he loses the point of support, abandons the spring of joy and finds putrid puddle water in his mouth.The animals are also depicted in a flight of terror: from this moment on, savage instincts awaken in them; no longer friends of humans, they are ready to unleash their ferocity against them.But one thing is certain: sin distances man from God... but God remains Father! That is why hope is still possible.
ITA — La prima formella della Porta Santa presenta, in basso a sinistra, l'albero della conoscenza del bene e del male: attorno ad esso si arrotola il serpente tentatore, che suggerì alla donna di disobbedire a Dio. E la donna “vide che l'albero era buono per il cibo e gradevole agli occhi, e che l'albero era desiderabile per acquisire saggezza. Così prese un po' del suo frutto e ne mangiò; e ne diede anche al marito, che era con lei, ed egli ne mangiò. Allora si aprirono gli occhi di entrambi e si accorsero di essere nudi” (Gen 3,6-7). Bella conquista!
Il peccato sembra una vittoria, ma invece è un fallimento; sembra la vetta della libertà, ma invece è l'abisso della schiavitù; sembra portare alla felicità, ma invece finisce nell'amarezza. Il profeta Geremia, con parole chiare, descrive il meccanismo autopunitivo del peccato. Rivolgendosi ai peccatori del suo tempo, dice: “Che colpa hanno avuto i vostri antenati di essersi allontanati da me, di essere andati dietro al vuoto e di essere diventati vuoti loro stessi?”. (Ger 2,5). E poi aggiunge: “Sappiate dunque e vedete quanto sia malvagio e amaro il vostro abbandono del Signore, vostro Dio” (Ger 2:19). Infatti, quando l'uomo si stacca da Dio, perde il punto di appoggio, abbandona la sorgente della gioia e si ritrova in bocca l'acqua putrida di una pozzanghera. Anche gli animali sono raffigurati in una fuga di terrore: da questo momento si risvegliano in loro gli istinti selvaggi; non più amici degli uomini, sono pronti a scatenare la loro ferocia contro di loro. Ma una cosa è certa: il peccato allontana l'uomo da Dio... ma Dio rimane Padre! Per questo la speranza è ancora possibile.
THE ANGEL OF PARADISE - L'ANGELO DEL PARADISO
The tree of the knowledge of good and evil with the tempting serpent. Above, a cherubim imposes on Adam and Eve the exit from Paradise.(Gen 3:23)
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come;
thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
Amen
QVOP・HEVATRISTISQUOD HEVA TRISTIS ABSTULIT
What disgraced Eve took away from ushe second panel of the Holy Door depicts the progenitors at the moment of their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Adam, bowed under the weight of guilt, is bent forward, almost on the verge of falling. Indeed, the image of God imprinted in his heart has fallen into the dust.Eve, the first woman, hides her face in shame.It is a face streaked with tears: she covers it with the arm with which she plucked the fruit from the tree. Eve listened to the voice of the serpent who spoke ambiguously to her; she believed the serpent who lied and proposed a malicious deception. And she gave her man the forbidden fruit. Eve, therefore, was the cause of death.
That is why sadness accompanies her.But St. Ambrose acutely observes that wom-an, in relation to original sin, is more excusable than man: she was seduced by an angel (though a fallen one) and in her, repentance was quick-er, and her excuse was more generous: she accuses the serpent, not the man. And then, the woman made amends for the first sin by giving birth to the Savior. For this reason, Saint Ambrose expresses himself thus: "Come closer, Eve, who now has the name Mary" (De Institutionis Virginis, C.V). By now, the gaze of history is turned towards Mary.And on the horizon, the new Eve can be glimpsed: Mary! To the pride of the first sin, the prompt and humble "yes" pronounced in the small house of Nazareth by the most obedient woman in all history stands in contrast.
THE EXPULSION FROM PARADISE
Adam, bowed under the weight of divine malediction, and Eve, who hides her face in shame, exit through the gate of Paradise (Gen 3:23)
Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.
Amen.
TU REDDIS ALMO GERMINE -You give it back to us in your Son
After the tragedy of sin, God reacts with an A outburst of Mercy that He alone is capableof. Bible tells us what God felt and what God decided at the moment when man poisoned the creation that had come forth so beautifully from His hands. Here is God's reaction: "Then the Lord God said to the snake: I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; She will crush your head, and you will lie in wait for her heel" (Gen 3:15).These wonderful words of God find their fulfillment in the Annunciation of the Angel Gabriel to Mary. At that moment, in the "yes" of Mary, the chain of our "no's" was interrupted. And in Mary's humility and obedience, God found the door to re-enter history from which human pride had attempted to exclude Him.
The scene depicted in the Holy Door is most delicate: Mary has her eyes closed to express trust and total abandonment, while the Angel's delicate step seems to bring human history back to the beauty of the beginning.The moment is intensely profound. St. Ber-nard, in the 12th century, gazing upon this scene, addressed the Madonna thus: "O Mary, the Angel awaits your answer. We are also waiting for this gift of yours, which is a gift from God. The weight of our redemption lies in your bands. Answer quickly, O Virgin! Speak, O Lady, the word that heaven and earth and even the underworld are waiting for".And Mary said: "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. Let it be done to me according to your word" (Ik 1:38). With this "yes", the story of humanity's return to God begins: a story that is still unfolding and in which we too are involved.
THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY
The Virgin Mary with the unmistakable symbol of the Holy Spirit.(LK 1:26-31)
O Mary, with you we too want to say our "yes"!
We are often fragile, restless, inconstant... but still... children!Help us repeat your
"Here I am!" to taste with you the joy of the Magnificat and to spread it in the sad furrows of today's world.
Amen.
MISSUS EST ANGELUS GABRIEL -The Angel Gabriel was sent(Lk 1:26)
In order to accompany the Angel to Mary’s little home, we must take away "the fear of Napoleon". Let me explain. Napoleon Bonaparte was born in Ajaccio, Corsica, on August 15th 1769: that is, he was born on the very day on which the Church has for centuries remembered and still remembers the Assumption of Mary into heaven. Napoleon should have been happy about this coincidence, but instead, he was very annoyed. Do you know why? On August 15th, during the celebration of Holy Mass, the Church reads the Gospel of the Magnificat, in which Mary of Nazareth has the courage to say: "God has scattered the proud in their conceit, has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up the lowly" (Ik 1:51-52).
It was too much! Napoleon could not bear that on his birthday someone would dare to remind him that the thrones of the powerful of this world are all moth-eaten: sooner or later, they will fall!Napoleon then became emperor and abolished the feast of the Assumption in the territories under his authority: and this happened by imperial decree on February 19th 1806! But a few years passed and, after Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo, Mary's Magnificat was read again by French pulpits, because God is not man's rival but man's only true friend.Mary, the very young girl from Nazareth, towards whom the angel Gabriel was directed, knew and believed all this and reminds us all of it today.
THE ANNUNCIATION
The angel's greeting with a rose in his right hand to offer to Mary.(Lk 1:26-31; Mk 2:1-3.5.10-11)
O Mary,
The history of mankind is full of many "no's", which bear bitter fruits of hatred, injustice, rivalry, violence.
You have brokenthe chain of our "no's": we want to follow you to rebuild the joy of following the Lord with a docile, pure, humble and joyful heart.
Amen.
TU VENIS AD ME? -You come to me?(Mt 3:14)
The fifth scene presents us Jesus in the waters of the Jordan: John pours water over the head of the One who came to cleans us from the filth of sin. In fact, Jesus, the Lamb of Innocence, has immersed himself in our history that has become mean and inhospitable towards God.Why did Jesus perform this act?Jesus lined up with sinners to convey to us the comforting news that God never abandons us. Even when we fall into sin, God always stays close to us and extends His hand to lift us up: it is up to us to have the humility to let ourselves be helped by God's Mercy. Let us not lack this humility: it would be the greatest misfortune in life.
St. Gregory of Nyssa made this beautiful comment on scene of the Baptism: "Christ received the Baptism of John to restore purity to all that is stained. The Spirit descended to elevate man to Heaven, to raise up the fallen, and to bumble the one who had caused the fall".This is the perfect synthesis of the fifth scene of the Holy Door and is an invitation to rediscover the joy of Holy Baptism, which imprinted God's Holy Face on us and ignited a spark of His Love in our hearts: let us not let it be extinguished, because that spark has the power to generate saints like St. Francis, like Mother Teresa, like St. John Paul II. And it can also generate our own holiness.
THE BAPTISM OF JESUS
Jesus is baptized by John the Baptist and the Holy Spirit, represented by a dove, descends upon Him.(Mt 3:13-15)
Lord Jesus, in Holy Baptism a spark of God's love was ignited in our hearts.We do not want to extinguish it!
Indeed, we desire it to grow so that we may be recognized by all as the people who love as God loves.This is the miracle that can convert the world.
Amen.
SALVARE QUONPERIERAT -For the Son of Man came to save what was lost(Mt 18:11)
The sixth scene is an enchanting representation of the parable of the lost sheep.Who does the sheep represent? Us! We who have fled from the arms of God and found ourselves entangled in the thorny and prickly brambles of pride and selfishness. A scene that is always dramatically current!And who is the shepherd who reaches out to lift the sheep from the cliff into which it has foolishly fallen? The Shepherd is Jesus! His outstretched arms foreshadow the gesture of the crucifixion. Indeed, it is on the Cross that Je sus attacked our sin and conquered it with love: love, indeed, is the true power of God and is the only force capable of overcoming evil. It is natural to pray with Psalm 23, which, with the most delicate words, paints the face of the Good Shepherd: "The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing: He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters, He refreshes my soul, He guides me along the right paths for His name's sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me" (Ps 23:1-4).
The French Catholic writer Julien Green commented: "These simple words settled easily into my memory. I saw the shepherd; I saw the valley in the shadow of death. It was the gospel in miniature. How many times in the hour of anguish have I remember the comforting rod that avoids danger. Every day I recited this little prophetic poem whose riches will never be exhausted".
THE LOST SHEEP
The shepherd Jesus finds the lost sheep of his flock in the cliff and saves it by reaching out to it with his hands.(Lk 15:4-7)
Jesus, Good Shepherd,
I too often stray from the fold of goodness, of meekness, of peace, of humility.And I end up in the thorns of pride that makes me lonely,of the selfishness that makes me unhappy, of the envy that turns my brothers into rivals.
Jesus, reach out your band and bring me back to the sheepfold to feel the warm embrace of the Father and the comforting embrace of the brothers.
Amen.
PATER PECCAVI IN COELUM ET CORAM TE -Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you (Lk 15:18)
The seventh scene attempts to recount themost beautiful story ever spoken by Jesus.To the amazement of his lucky listeners, he said one day: "God resembles a father who has two sons: these sons are the centre of his life, but also the torment of his heart. The youngest son goes so far as to shamelessly ask his father for his in-beritance in advance: the father could have denied him, but he does not, because the father does not want to be loved by force. For love must be spontaneous and free to be true! And so the son runs away and slams the door, thinking be will find happiness. Instead, be finds himself... feeding pigs! Sin, indeed, is bitter; sin is a slippery path on which one stumbles; sin is an illusion, like an arrow that fails to hit the target!
For this reason, the son repents, dreams of the house from which he left, and sets out with his head bowed to receive the father's rightful rebuke.But here comes the surprise: the father runs to meet him, embraces him, forgets everything, and is happy to forgive".The panel presents this moment, in which each of us can recognize our own story. Indeed, if we take a step towards the Lord, we immediately find the surprise of feeling the Father's arms welcoming us and restoring our dignity and happiness through forgiveness.
THE MERCIFUL FATHER
The father greets his repentant son, who has returned to the house from which he had left.(LK 15:11-24)
O Jesus,
I stand thoughtfully at the foot of the Cross:I too have built it with my sins!Your goodness, which does not defend itself and allows itself to be crucified, It's a mystery that surpasses me and moves me deeply.
Lord, You came into the world for me, to seek me,to bring me the Father's embrace: the embrace I am missing!You are the Face of goodness and mercy: that's why you want to save me!
Inside me there is darkness: come with your clean light.Inside me there is so much selfishness: come with your boundless charity.Inside me is pride and resentment: come with your meekness and humility.
Lord, the sinner to be saved is me: the prodigal son who must return is me!Lord, grant me the gift of tears to regain freedom and life, peace with You and joy in You.
Amen.
TOLLE GRABATUM TUUM ET AMBULA -Take up thy stretcher and walk(Mk 2:9)
The eighth panel portrays a man paralyzed,who took his first steps at the unexpected command of Jesus: "Take up your stretcher and go home!" (Mt 9:6). But, before offering healing of the body, Jesus sees in the heart of the paralysed man a tangle of sins together with a glimmer of trust and repentance.That is why he says to him: "Courage, my son, your sins are forgiven!" (Mt 9:2).People are surprised and even go so far as to think the unthinkable: "This man is blaspheming!" (Mt 9:3). But, so that it would be clear to everyone that Jesus is the outstretched hand of God to lift us out of sin, He performs the miracle of healing the paralytic.But the real miracle is the forgiveness, the real healing is the soul washed in the water of God's inexhaustible mercy: this water has been given to the Church and the priests are the hand of Jesus that forgives and heals. And this is the meaning and purpose of the Jubilee.
Gilbert Chesterton rightly stated publicly when he decided to become a Catholic: "I become a Catholic so that I can go to confession.I could go all over the world, but only in the Catholic Church do I find a man directly authorised by God to forgive my sins".And after the first confession, he exclaimed:"It was wonderful. While I was receiving forgiveness, the world turned upside down for me... and became straight!".It is an experience we can all have: just kneeldown!
HEALING THE PARALYTIC
Jesus, in a house in Capernaum,forgives the sins of a paralyzed man and commands him to rise.(Mt 9:1-8)
Jesus,
You are God's forgiveness that has come close to us.In the Sacrament of Confession your merciful arms reach out to me, heal me, rebuild me.
Jesus, help me understand the beauty of this Sacrament.
Amen.
REMITTUNTUR EI PECCATA MULTA -Her many sins are forgiven (Lk 7:47)
The he ninth panel takes us to a dining room.Jesus has been invited by a Pharisee named Simon, and the meal the meal is proceeding as usual. But here comes an unannounced visitor, who causes the host's disapproval. A woman enters, whom everyone knew as a great and public sinner. Why does she enter? The woman, certainly, keeping her distance, had heard the words of hope and call to repentance, which Jesus continually offered to his listeners. The woman took them seriously and felt they were addressed to her. Moved by an intense and sincere repentance, she entered the dining room where Jesus was: she throws herself at his feet, bathes them with her tears and dries them with her long hair, which was once the sign of her life of sin.
Jesus reads the woman's heart, sees a sorrow so strong that it burns away all the brushwood of sin and, with divine authority, says: "Your sins are forgiven!" (Lk 7:48).Simon does not understand, he is surprised... almost scandalised in the face of this goodness that seems excessive to him: the panel shows him thoughtful, doubtful, distant from Jesus' gesture.Let the same thing not happen to us! Let us open our hearts to the good and beautiful news that Jesus brought into the world. And the good news is this: God loves us, God is waiting for us, God is always ready to forgive.
THE FORGIVEN SINNER
Jesus while at table with Simon the Pharisee forgives a sinner who, repentant, wipes away the tears shed on the Lord's feet with her own hair.(LK 7:36-39; 48:50)
Jesus,
I don't want to have a cold heart, envious and inhospitable like that of the Pharisee.
May the certainty that God loves me and is always ready to forgive me and my brothers never fade within me.And I must imitate Him.
Amen.
SEPTUAGIES SEPTIES -Seventy times seven(Mt 18:22)
The tenth panel represents Peter presentingJesus with a question that we all have in our hearts. The Apostle asks Jesus: "If my brother sins against me, how many times shall I forgive him? As many as seven times?" (Mt 18:21). It may have seemed to Peter that he had been gen-erous... going so far as to forgive seven times.But Jesus is categorical: "No, it's not enough! It'S not enough up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven, that is always" (Mt 18:22).These words of Jesus make Christianity unique among all religions on earth. We Christians are the people of forgiveness, we are the people who believe that hatred can only be overcome with love and wickedness can only be overcome with greater goodness.History continually proves us right, but the message of Jesus is challenging and heroic: to be understood and lived requires a new heart, a heart tuned to the heart of God.
Conversion is necessary! Crossing the Holy Door means precisely this: leaving one world to enter another, abandoning human ways of thinking to adopt God's way of thinking.Observing the panel, it is worth noting a truly beautiful and moving detail: the hand of Jesus is worn by the caresses of the pilgrims who have crossed the threshold of the door.Perhaps, by this gesture, they wanted to say:"Jesus, take me by the hand and lead me into your Kingdom: into the Kingdom of Love and Forgiveness!"This brings to mind the striking words that F.Dostoevsky wrote to his granddaughter Sonia in January 1868: "In the world, there is only one person who is positively beautiful: it is Christ!The appearance of this boundlessly and infinitely beautiful person is already an extraordinary miracle".
THE DUTY OF FORGIVENESS
To Peter's question whether it was sufficient to forgive up to seven times, Jesus replies "seventy times seven", meaning that forgiveness must have no limits.(Mk 18:21-22)
Jesus,
You alone have taught us that hatred is overcome with love,malice is overcome with goodness, offence is overcome with forgiveness.
Help us to always keep alivethis wonderful novelty, which is the only one that can change human history.
Amen.
CONVERSUS DOMINUS RESPEXIT PETRU -The Lord turned and looked at Peter(Lk 22:61)
But why must we always forgive? The answer is simple: we must always forgive because God always forgives us! If, with a repentant heart, we take the step of returning to God, we find him always willing to forgive us any sin.Peter was the first to experience this.During the dramatic moments of the Lord's Passion, Peter had a doubt: the doubt that Jesus was a failure, the doubt that wickedness prevailed over goodness, and therefore he denied Jesus. Thus, he distanced himself from Him and surrendered to the logic of the world, which is made up of arrogance, power and pride. But, according to the account of the evangelist Luke, as soon as Peter had consummated his denial, Jesus looked at him intensely and, with a merciful gaze, and this gaze sent Peter this wise message: "Do not worry, evil does not win, wickedness does not win, pride does not win. Goodness wins and will always win: it only takes patience and bumility to wait for God's timing. Peter, trust God... and in a few hours, you will see the light of God's victory: you will see me Risen! And that is only the beginning of the victory!".
Peter believed, he regretted having doubt-ed, he wept, and his soul regained the beauty and security of faith... until his martyrdom on the Vatican Hill, where today millions of people come on pilgrimage to relive with Peter the return to a more lively, more convinced, more consistent faith.
THE RENEGADE OF PETER
Jesus with bound hands turns his gaze towards Peter, repentant for having denied him before the cock crows.(Lk 22:61-62)
Peter,
you have knownthe weakness and humiliation of denial.
However, in the eyes of Jesus you saw Love always intact,
you have seen forgiveness always ready.
And you cried,and so you regained your innocence of your soul.
Give me a tear: at least one tear!
Amen.
HODIE MECUM ERIS IN PARADISO -Today you will be with me in Paradise (Lk 23:43)
The twelfth panel can be said to be the synthesis of the whole of human history: the Cross of Christ is planted in the midst of our wickedness, the infinite love of God made itself visible and close to us to the point of being crucified, the love of God even allowed itself to be attacked by our sins and responded by attacking them with the offering of its life.Gift: "Father, forgive them!' (Lk 23:34).St. John Paul II, pausing pensively before the scene of Jesus' crucifixion, exclaimed: "Without this Passion, the truth that God is Love would be hanging in the wind".
From the Crucified One, in fact, this cry continually comes: "God loves you! God is waiting for you! God already has forgiveness for your sins ready in His heart. Open your heart to Him and you will feel how true is the Mercy of God and how beautiful it is to be forgiven by God!".A thief, the one we call the "good thief", believed in the cry of love of the Crucified and, with the humility and trust of a child, said to Jesus: "Remember me when you enter your kingdom!". Jesus' answer is a glimpse of light that makes God's merciful face shine: "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise" (Lk23:43).As pilgrims pass through the Holy Door, they have caressed Jesus as if to lean on His Mercy, and that caress has given splendor to the holy body of the Crucified. But the pilgrims' hands have also reached out to caress the face of the"good thief": an eloquent gesture expressing harmony with his prayer, his humility, his repentance. Let us enter into this path of conversion opened by a man who had the fortune to represent all of us in the cry of repentance and abandonment into the arms of Mercy, which allowed itself to be nailed to the Cross to un-nail us from wickedness.
PARADISE TO A REPENTANT THIEF
Jesus, on the cross between two criminals, promises the repentant thief on His right the kingdom of heaven.(LK 23, 33.39.40.42-43)
O Lord, your Cross reveals to us the mystery of our sin: You, the innocent one, have entered history that we allowed to rot with our pride, turned into defiance, selfishness, hatred, violence.
You have suffered passionof all human history to reveal to us the drama of freedom that,detaching themselves from God,experiences the bitterness of fleeing from Peace, from Light, from Love.
But the Cross, O Lord Jesus, above all reveals the mystery of Thy Lovewhich is stronger than our sins, more tenacious than our rebellions,more powerful than our empty power.
O Jesus Crucified, Thou art Hope, who traverses the twisted paths of man of all times!O crucified Jesus, You are the certainty that God loves us irrevocably!
O Jesus Crucified,"have mercy on us, sinners" (Lk 18:13) and "remember us in Thy Kingdom" (Lk 23:42).
Amen.
BEATI QUI CREDIDERUNT -Blessed are those who have believed(In 20:29)
Thomas, despite being an apostle, initially did not believe this wonderful story of mercy and forgiveness: for him everything had ended on the Cross! And so many think!Instead, it all starts with the Cross: an irresistible love story begins, which seeks out Paul on the road to Damascus, which speaks to Francis of Assisi in the poor little church of San Dami-ano, which stamps the body of Padre Pio with the stigmata in the choir of the Capuchin church at San Giovanni Rotondo... and knocks on the door of many hearts, arousing miracles of con-version: as happened to Girolamo Emiliani, Charles de Foucauld, Jacques Fesch who was sentenced to death by guillotine, Giovanni Pap-ini, Curzio Malaparte, Leonardo Mondadori, Claudia Koll... and so many souls who opened the door of their hearts to Jesus.
Thomas, immediately after Easter, became part of this wonderful, life-transforming story of faith. Seeing the wound of the nails and seeing the gash left by the spear on Jesus' chest, he exclaimed: "My Lord and my God!" (In 20,28).St. Gregory the Great commented: "The infinite goodness of the Lord disposed that disci-ple, with his doubts, touching the scars on the Master's flesh, should heal in us the fevers of un-belief. For in the doubt of Thomas, more than in the faith of believers, we find an additional argument for believing" (Homily 26:4-7).Let it truly be so!
THE APPARITION TO THOMAS
Jesus shows Thomas, the unbelieving apostle, his hands and the wounds on his side.(Un 20:26-29)
O Thomas, apostle of doubt, but also of humility that blossoms into a full,convinced and convincing faith.
Pray for me, that by looking at the wounds of Jesus Crucified may today exclaim:
"My Lord and my God, how much you have loved me!".
Amen.
ACCIPITE SPIRITUM SANCTUM -Receive the Holy Spirit(In 20:22)
The fourteenth panel takes us to the UpperRoom: the apostles are gathered in prayer and waiting, but they are so afraid in their hearts... because the light of the Risen One has not yet illuminated the meaning of the Cross by revealing the love it contains and transmits.It is Easter Day, but the hearts of the Apostles are still on Good Friday: and this delay can always happen again, can always repeat itself.Jesus enters the Upper Room behind closed doors: by now he is the Lord, he is the Victol, he is the Risen One... who pierces the whole of history and all the walls of time. And he says to the apostles: "As the Father has sent me, so I send you" (In 20:21).The apostles could object: "Jesus! We are so different from You, we are steeped in weakness, in betrayal, in inconsistency! How could we continue Thy work?".But Jesus challenges our weakness with the power of His Love. He challenges our infidelity with the rock of His faithful Love. He replies:"Receive the Holy Spirit! Whose sins you forgive, they will be forgiven, and whose sins you retain are retained" (In 20:22-23).
The Church is not the home of heroes: the Church is the home of sinners who continually need forgiveness. But beware! God's forgiveness only enters through the door of repentance and, consequently, through the door of change of life. If there is no repentance, there is no forgiveness of sins: that is obvious! For if it were not so, forgiveness would be hypocrisy, it would be a varnish that hides but does not remove the ugliness of sin.Blaise Pascal astutely observed: "We do not invoke God's mercy to leave us in our sins, but to pull us out!". How can we not agree with him?
THE RISEN ONE IN THE CENACLE
The risen Christ, surrounded by the apostles, bestows upon them the commission of the mission and the gift of the Holy Spirit. (Jn 20:19.20-23)
Holy Spirit, come!
Remove the veil before our eyes, that we may recognise that Jesus is the Lord:God made man out of love, pilgrim in our roads for love, crucified and risen for love, for love of us.
Holy Spirit, come!
Give us a thirst for the Word of God, making our hearts open to the Light, humble and ready to listen,persevering in the search for the Truth that is hidden on every page of the Divine Scriptures.
Holy Spirit, come!
Bring us to our knees before the Eucharist to adore and desire the Bread become Living Love.
Holy Spirit, come!
Make us capable of weeping for sin, of joyfully accepting forgiveness, of running into the arms of Maryto learn the "Here I am" and the Magnificat.
Holy Spirit, come! Holy Spirit, thank you!
Amen.
SUM JESUS QUEM TU PERSEQUERIS - I am Jesus, whom you persecute(Acts 9:5)
The penultimate panel depicts Saul falling tothe ground: he falls from the pride that prevented him from recognizing that the Cross is not the sign of God's weakness, but is the manifestation of God's true omnipotence: the omnipotence of Merciful Love, always ready to forgive.Saul falls but, at the same time, his soul rises and is overwhelmed by Jesus' words: "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" (Acts 9:4).Jesus does not rebuke Saul, he does not fulminate with condemnation, but simply asks him:"Saul, why? Why do you fight against Love, which has come to seek you even?".
Saul is wounded by Jesus' love and will never forget this moment; and, writing to the Galatians, he will go so far as to declare: "I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. Insofar as I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who has loved me and given himself up for me" (Gal 2:20).The new logic of love will impress itself so deeply into Paul's heart that he will go so far as to exclaim: "If I do not have Love, I am nothing!"(1 Cor 13:2).From this certainty have blossomed all the miracles of love that accompany the history of Christianity... up to Mother Teresa of Calcutta.This indefatigable modern-day Christian never tired of saying: "When we die, we will take only the suitcase of charity with us. Let us fill it while there is still time!'. Mother Teresa certainly did that... what about us? Let us not waste time: the Jubilee is a cry of Love that wants to wake us up. Let us listen to it!
THE CONVERSION OF SAUL
Jesus appears to Saul, thrown from his horse, and turns him from persecutor into an apostle.(Acts 9:1-22)
Paul,
an apostle of readiness who surrenders himself to Jesus, an apostle of enthusiasm who becomes a missionary to transmit to all the good news that God is Love.And Love has pitched his tent in our midst.
Paul,
shake our mediocrity, burn our lukewarmness, pull us out of the shells of our comfort...and call for a brave new missionary season for the whole Church.The harvest is plentiful..!
Amen.
STO AD OSTIUM ET PULSO - I stand at the door and knock(Rev 3:20)
The last panel, the sixteenth, represents Pope Pius XII knocking on the Holy Door: it was December 24th 1949.The world had just come out of the Second World War, which had killed millions and millions of people and produced the horrific death camps, the shame of humanity!Pope Pius XII wanted the Jubilee to be the year of great forgiveness, the year of the great return to the Lord. And so many pilgrims set out on their way to Rome, which, as Dante Alighieri so aptly puts it, "in this holy place sits the successor of Peter". The Jubilee is a year of great forgiveness anda great return to the Lord.The modern world is so bewildered and so lost that the philosopher M. Heidegger went so far as to say: "No era has known less than ours what man is". Why is it so? Because we have distanced ourselves from God, who is the light that lights the way and is Mercy with wounded hands to heal our wounds.
Let us return to the Lord! Let us enter the Holy Door with the decision to finally open our hearts to Jesus, to play our small but in-replaceable part in building a new world, of which we all dream.Mother Teresa of Calcutta, to those who complained that she did not see the world getting better, wisely replied: "As long as we shout: 'It is dark! It is dark!', the light will not turn on.Let us send light with our better life, and the power of the Blood of Christ will pass through us and around us, healing history and making it a story of salvation!".
THE OPENING OF THE HOLY DOOR
Pius XII opens the Holy Doorand the Catholic world enteres the Jubilee of 1950(Acts 3:19-20)
Peter, apostle of Jesus!
You left Galilee to come to Rome, driven by a desire to bring to all the word of Eternal Life, whichyou bad beard from the living voice of the Master.Pray that we todaywe are courageous missionaries of the Gospel, to sow hope in the desperate vacuum of modern society.
Peter, rock of the Church!Jesus loved you and prayed for you.
And be transformed your weakness into the strong cement of unity, so that communion may flourish around you, which makes the Churcha prodigy of God within history.Pray that we may be one, to offer the divided world the miracle of our unity.
Peter, First Pope!
Protect your Successor who lives here, where you foundthe 'Calvary' of the crucifixion.Gather around the Pope the intercession of the Holy Pontifis and all the martyrs, that have made Rome a blessed land.
Let this place be a garden of virtue and a beacon of truth to preside with charity over the one holy catholic and Apostolic Church.
Amen
I believe in one God, the Father almighty,maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages.
God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father; through him all things were made.
For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven, and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man.
For our sakehe was crucified under Pontius Pilate, he suffered death and was buried, and rose again on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.
He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and his kingdom will have no end.
And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified,who has spoken through the prophets.
And one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.I confess one baptism for the forgiveness of sinsand I look forward to the resurrection of the deadand the life of the world to come.
Amen.
Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be to the Father according to the Holy Father's intentions.
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