The wounds of Jesus are still present on earth. In order to recognise them, it is necessary to go out of ourselves and encounter our brothers and sisters in need, the sick, the ignorant, the poor, the exploited. This is the 'exodus' that Pope Francis pointed out to Christians in the homily of the Mass celebrated on Saturday morning, 11 May, in the chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae.

It is a matter - the Pontiff explained - of "an exit from ourselves" made possible by prayer "towards the Father in the name of Jesus". The prayer that "bores us", on the other hand, is "always within ourselves, like a thought that comes and goes. But true prayer is to go out from ourselves to the Father in the name of Jesus, it is an exodus from ourselves" that is accomplished "with the intercession of Jesus himself, who before the Father makes him see his wounds".

But how can we recognise these wounds of Jesus? How is it possible to trust in these plagues if one does not know them? And what is "the school where one learns to know the wounds of Jesus, these priestly wounds, these wounds of intercession?" The Pope's response was explicit: "If we do not succeed in making this exit from ourselves towards those wounds, we will never learn the freedom that leads us to the other exit from ourselves, towards the wounds of Jesus".

Hence the image of the two "exits from ourselves" indicated by the Holy Father: the first is "towards the wounds of Jesus, the other towards the wounds of our brothers and sisters. And this is the way Jesus wants in our prayer'. Words that find confirmation in the Gospel of John (16:23-28) in the liturgy of the day. A passage in which Jesus is of a disarming clarity: "Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask anything of the Father in my name, he will give it to you". In these words," the Pontiff noted, "there is a novelty in prayer: 'In my name'. The Father therefore "will give us everything, but always in the name of Jesus".

What does this asking in the name of Jesus mean? It is a novelty that Jesus reveals precisely "at the moment when he leaves the earth and returns to the Father". On the Solemnity of the Ascension celebrated last Thursday - the Pope recalled - a passage from the Letter to the Hebrews was read, where it says, among other things: "For we have the freedom to go to the Father". It is "a new freedom. The doors are open: Jesus, in going to the Father, left the door open". Not because "he forgot to close it", but because "he himself is the door". He is "our intercessor, and that is why he says: 'In my name'". In our prayer, characterised by "that courage which Jesus himself gives us", we then ask the Father in the name of Jesus: "Look at your Son and do this to me!".

The Holy Father then recalled the image of Jesus "entering the sanctuary of Heaven, as a priest. And Jesus, until the end of the world, is as priest, he makes intercession for us". And when we "ask the Father by saying 'Jesus', we are signalling, we are saying, we are referring to the intercessor. He prays for us before the Father".

Referring then to the wounds of Jesus, the Pontiff noted that Christ "in his resurrection, had a beautiful body: the wounds of the scourging, of the thorns, have disappeared, all of them. The bruises of the blows have disappeared". But he, he added, "always wanted to have the wounds, and the wounds are precisely his prayer of intercession to the Father". This is "the novelty that Jesus tells us", inviting us to "trust in his passion, trust in his victory over death, trust in his wounds". He is, in fact, the "priest and this is the sacrifice: his wounds". All this "gives us confidence, gives us the courage to pray", because, as the Apostle Peter wrote, "by his wounds you have been healed".

In conclusion, the Holy Father recalled another passage from John's Gospel: 'Until now you have asked nothing in my name: ask and you shall obtain, that your joy may be full'. The reference,' he explained, is to the 'joy of Jesus', to the 'joy that comes'. This is "the new way of praying: with trust", with that "courage that lets us know that Jesus is before the Father" and shows him his wounds; but also with the humility to recognise and find Jesus' wounds in his needy brothers and sisters. This is our prayer in charity.

"May the Lord," the Pontiff hoped, "give us this freedom to enter that sanctuary where He is priest and intercedes for us and whatever we ask the Father in His name, He will give it to us. But also give us the courage to go to that other "sanctuary" which are the wounds of our brothers and sisters in need, who suffer, who still bear the Cross and still have not won, as Jesus won".

[Pope Francis, S. Marta homily, in L'Osservatore Romano 12/05/2013]