During the second Sunday of Easter, 8 April 2018, Pope Francis asked: “How can we savour the love of God, how can we touch the mercy of Jesus? Once again the Gospel tells us, when emphasising that on the evening of Easter and the Resurrection, the first thing Jesus did was to give His Spirit to forgive sins.

To experience love we must take this path: accept forgiveness. I ask myself and each one of you: can I accept forgiveness? Before God we are tempted to do what the Disciples in the Gospel did: barricade ourselves behind closed doors. They did it out of fear and we, too, are afraid, ashamed to open ourselves up and talk about our sins. May the Lord give us the grace to understand shame, to see it not as a closed door, but as the first step towards a meeting. When we feel shame we should be grateful: it means that we do not accept evil, and this is good. Shame is a secret invitation of the soul that needs the Lord in order to overcome evil. Do not be afraid to be ashamed! Do not be afraid”.

“How should our faith be? It is the Apostles’ question and also ours. The answer is: ‘faith based on service to God and our neighbours. A humble, free, generous service that is never half-hearted. This is the only way we can really open ourselves up to the hope of the final meeting with Jesus”. These were the reflections of Pope Francis during the Mass celebrated at Santa Marta on Tuesday, 11 November 2014.

«When I say service I mean everything: service to God in worship, in praying, in praise; service to our neighbours and service until the very end. Jesus is adamant about this and advises: ‘When you have done everything you were told to do, you, too, must say: we are unworthy servants. We must provide a service that is freely given without ever asking for anything in return”.

During the morning meditation in the Domus Sanctae Marthae Chapel on 9 December 2014, Pope Francis reminded us how “a person is comforted when he feels the mercy and forgiveness of the Lord, the Church celebrates, it is happy to go out of itself. The joy of the Church is to give birth, to come out of itself to give life, to go looking for the lost sheep, and witness the tenderness of the shepherd, the tenderness of a mother”.

Born in the same way is “the joy of seeking brothers and sisters who are far away: this is the joy of the Church”. It is then that the Church “becomes a mother, becomes fertile”. On the contrary, the Pontiff warned, “when the Church does not do this, it stands still, it is closed in on itself, even though it is well organised. And in this way it becomes a Church that is disheartened, anxious, sad, a Church that is more like a spinster than a mother. This Church is not useful, it is not a Church but a museum.

“Jesus taught us that Christians must have a heart that is strong, faithful, grows on the rock that is Christ, and which moves with prudence». The Pontiff stated that “you don’t negotiate with the heart, you don’t negotiate with the rock. Christ is the rock, it isn’t negotiable!”

At the conclusion of the morning meditation in the Domus Sanctae Marthae Chapel on 15 December 2014, Pope Francis asked “the Lord for the grace that our heart may be simple, glowing with the truth that He gives us, so that we can be kind, forgiving, understanding of others. A large merciful heart with people».

“The fruits of the Mass will mature in everyday life. By slightly stretching the image, we can say that the Mass is like a grain, the grain of wheat that in ordinary life grows, grows and matures in good deeds, in attitudes that liken us to Jesus. The fruits of the Mass, therefore, will mature in everyday life. In truth, strengthening our union with Christ, the Eucharist renews the grace that the Spirit gave us in Christening and Confirmation, so that our Christian witness will be credible”. These were the words of Pope Francis on 4 April 2018, during the General Audience in St Peter’s Square.

“By lighting divine charity in our hearts, what does the Eucharist do? It separates us from sin: the more we take part in the life of Christ and make progress in His friendship, the more difficult it is for us to separate from Him by mortal sin. The regular approach to the Eucharist Banquet renews, strengthens and deepens the bond with the Christian community to which we belong, in accordance with the principle that the Eucharist makes the Church, it unites us all. Lastly, taking part in the Eucharist is a commitment to others, especially the poor, teaching us to pass from the body of Christ to the body of our brothers and sisters where He waits to be recognised, served, honoured and loved”.

“Taking us to the heart of the Gospel, Mercy entreats us to give up the habits and practices that could obstruct serving the Kingdom of God; to be oriented only towards the perennial and humble kingship of Jesus, not in deferring to the precarious kingship and changeable powers of every age”. With these words Pope Francis celebrated the Mass for the closing of the Holy Year of Mercy on 20 November 2016.

“Let us ask for the grace that the doors of reconciliation and forgiveness never close, but rather we should know how to move past the hurt and differences, opening every possible avenue of hope. As God believes in us infinitely beyond our merits, we too are called up to instil hope and to offer opportunities to others. Because even if the Holy Door closes, the real door of mercy that is the Heart of Jesus Christ will always be wide open for us”.