"Do not be afraid", especially in difficult times: this was the message that Pope Francis reiterated in the Mass celebrated on Friday 30 May in the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta. A message of hope that spurs one to be courageous and to have "peace in one's soul" precisely in trials - sickness, persecution, everyday problems in the family - certain that true joy will be experienced afterwards, because "after the darkness there always comes the sun".
In this perspective, the Pontiff immediately pointed to the testimony of Saint Paul - a 'very courageous' man - presented in the Acts of the Apostles (18:9-18). Paul, he explained, 'did many things because he had the strength of the Lord, his vocation to carry the Church forward, to preach the Gospel'. Yet it seems that he too was afraid at times. So much so that the Lord one night, in a vision, expressly invited him "not to be afraid".
So even St Paul 'knew what happens to all of us in life', that is, having 'a little fear'. A fear that even leads us to review our Christian life, perhaps asking ourselves if, in the midst of so many problems, after all "it would not be better to lower the level a little" to be "not so Christian", seeking "a compromise with the world" so that "things would not be so difficult".
A reasoning, however, that did not belong to St Paul, who 'knew that what he was doing did not please either the Jews or the pagans'. And the Acts of the Apostles recount the consequences: he was taken to court, then there was 'persecution, trouble'. All this, the Pontiff continued, also brings us 'back to our fears, to our fears'. And one wonders whether being afraid is Christian. After all, the Pope recalled, "Jesus himself had it. Think of the prayer in Gethsemane: "Father, take this cup away from me. He had anguish". But Jesus also says: "Do not be afraid, go ahead!". It is precisely of this that he speaks in his farewell speech to his disciples, in the Gospel of John (16:20-23), when he tells them clearly: "You will weep and wail, but the world will rejoice"; moreover, it will mock you.
Which, then, punctually happened. "Let us think," remarked the bishop of Rome, "of those spectacles in the Coliseum, for example, with the first martyrs" who were led to "die while people rejoiced" saying: "These fools who believe in the Risen One now let them end up like this!". For many, the martyrdom of Christians "was a feast: see how they died!". What Jesus told the disciples has therefore happened: "the world will rejoice" while "you will be in sadness".
There is, then, "the Christian's fear, the Christian's sadness". Besides, the Pope explained, "we must tell ourselves the truth: not all Christian life is a feast. Not all of it! One weeps, many times one weeps!". The difficult situations in life are many: for example, he noted, 'when you are sick, when you have a problem in your family, with your children, your daughter, your wife, your husband. When you see that your salary doesn't reach the end of the month and you have a sick child and you see that you can't pay the mortgage on the house and you have to leave'. It is "so many problems that we have". Yet "Jesus tells us: do not be afraid!".
There is also "another sadness", Pope Francis added: that "which comes to all of us when we go down a road that is not good". Or when, 'to put it simply, we buy, we go and buy the joy, the joy of the world, the joy of sin'. With the result that 'in the end there is emptiness within us, there is sadness'. And this is precisely "the sadness of bad cheerfulness".
But if the Lord does not hide the sadness, he does not leave us with this word alone. He goes on to say: 'But if you are faithful, your sadness will be changed into joy'. Here is the key point: "Christian joy is a joy in hope that comes. But in the moment of trial we do not see it'. It is in fact "a joy that is purified by trials, even everyday trials". The Lord says: 'Your sadness will be changed into joy'. A difficult discourse to get across, the Pope acknowledged. You can see it, for example, "when you go to a sick person, to a sick person who is suffering so much, to say: cheer up, cheer up, tomorrow you will have joy!". It is a matter of making that person who suffers "feel the way Jesus made her feel". It is "an act of faith in the Lord" and it is also for us "when we are in the dark and see nothing". An act that makes us say: 'I know, Lord, that this sadness will be changed into joy. I don't know how, but I do!".
These days, the Pontiff observed, in the liturgy the Church celebrates the moment when "the Lord went away and left the disciples alone". At that moment "some of them may have felt fear". But in everyone 'there was hope, the hope that that fear, that sadness will be changed into joy'. And "to make us understand well that this is true, the Lord takes the example of the woman giving birth", explaining: "Yes, it is true, in childbirth the woman suffers a lot, but then when she has the child with her she forgets" all the pain. And "what remains is joy", the joy "of Jesus: a joy purified in the fire of trials, of persecutions, of all that one must do to be faithful". Only this "is the joy that remains, a joy hidden in some moments of life, which is not felt in bad moments, but which comes later". It is, indeed, 'a joy in hope'.
Here then is 'the message of the Church today: do not be afraid', be 'courageous in suffering and think that after comes the Lord, after comes joy, after the darkness comes the sun'. The Pontiff then expressed the hope that 'the Lord will give us all this joy in hope'. And he explained that peace is "the sign we have of this joy in hope". Witnessing this 'peace in the soul' are, in particular, many 'sick people at the end of life, with sorrows'. Because precisely 'peace,' the Pope concluded, 'is the seed of joy, it is joy in hope'. If in fact "you have peace in your soul in the moment of darkness, in the moment of difficulty, in the moment of persecution, when everyone rejoices in your evil", it is a clear sign "you have the seed of that joy that will come later".
[Pope Francis, S. Marta homily, in L'Osservatore Romano 31/05/2014]
