Vatican
City, 8 April 2013 (VIS) – On the Sunday that concludes the Easter Octave,
which John Paul II named Divine Mercy Sunday, the Pope greeted the faithful
gathered in St. Peter's Square to pray the Regina Coeli with the words of the
risen Christ: “Peace be with you”. He explained that it is a peace that goes
beyond a simple greeting or wish: “It is a gift,” he said. “The precious gift
that Christ gives to his disciples, after having passed through death and
hell.” It is a peace that is “the fruit of the victory of God's love over evil …
and of forgiveness. The true peace that comes from experiencing God's mercy.”
The
Holy Father then spoke of Jesus' appearances to his disciples who were locked
in the Cenacle. Thomas wasn't present at the first appearance and he didn't
believe what the apostles told him of it. At the second, when he was there and
Jesus invited him to touch his wounds, Jesus said to him “Have you come to
believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have
believed.”
“And
who are those who believe without having seen?” the pontiff asked. They are
“other disciples, men and women of Jerusalem who, although not having met the
risen Jesus, believed in the witness of the apostles and the women. This is a
very important word about faith; we can call it the beatitude of faith. In
every time and in every place there are the blessed who, through the Word of
God proclaimed in the Church and witnessed to by Christians, believe that Jesus
Christ is God's love incarnate, Mercy incarnate. And that goes for all of us!”
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