“We are reborn from the side of Jesus opened on the cross: let there be no poison of death in us; but we pray that by the grace of God we can become more and more Christians: joyful witnesses of new life, witnesses of love and peace “, said His Holiness Pope Francis in his homily presiding over the Divine Liturgy at the” Expo Grounds “in Nur-Sultan
As part of his apostolic visit to Kazakhstan and on the occasion of the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, His Holiness Pope Francis presided at the Divine Liturgy at the “Expo Grounds” in Nur-Sultan at a quarter past five local time. This we celebrate the exaltation of the cross of Christ. Because on that tree Jesus took upon himself our sin and the evil of the world and defeated them with his love for him. For this we celebrate the Holy Cross. The Word of God that we have heard tells us, because it puts bitten snakes on one side and the one that saves on the other, let’s stop at these two images.
Pope Francis went on to say snakes that bite first. He attacks people who have fallen into the sin of murmuring for the thousandth time. Complaining of God does not only mean speaking badly and despising him; Rather, it means, more profoundly, that trust in him and in his promise has vanished in the hearts of Israelis. The people of God, in fact, walk in the desert towards the Promised Land, tired and tired of traveling. He became discouraged and lost hope, and at some point it was as if he had forgotten the Lord’s promise: these people no longer had the strength to believe that He was leading their way to a rich and fertile land. It is no coincidence that when faith in God ran out, the killing snakes began to bite people. Remember the first serpent mentioned in the Bible in the book of Genesis, the tempter who poisoned the human heart and made him doubt God. Satan, in fact, in living form, bewitched Adam and Eve, creating in them mistrust and convincing them that God he is not good, but he is jealous of their freedom and happiness. And now, in the desert, the snakes had returned, the “stinging serpents”; That is, original sin has returned: the Israelites doubt God, lose their trust in Him, grumble and rebel against the One who gave them life, thus heading towards death. This is what leads to a lack of trust in the heart!
The Holy Father added: “Dear brothers and sisters, this first part of history asks us to look closely at the moments in our personal and collective history in which there has been a lack of trust in the Lord and among ourselves”. How many times, when mistrust and impatience overwhelmed us, we withered into our deserts and lost sight of the goal of the march! Even in this great country there is the desert which, while offering us splendid landscapes, we have spoken of that tiredness, of that dryness that we sometimes carry in our hearts. They are moments of tiredness and trial, in which we have lost the strength to look up, towards God; These are the situations of personal, ecclesiastical and social life in which we are bitten by a snake of mistrust, which injects into us the poisons of disappointment, despair, pessimism and surrender, closes us in on ourselves and extinguishes enthusiasm. But in the history of this land there have been other painful bites: I think of the vitriolic lives of violence, atheistic persecution, religious persecution, and the sometimes turbulent march during which people’s freedom was threatened and their dignity wounded. It will do us good to keep the memory of what we have suffered: we must not remove a little darkness from our memory, because we will think that a page has been turned and that the way to good has been decided once and for all. No, peace is never achieved once and for all, but it must be achieved daily, as well as coexistence between different ethnic groups and religious traditions, integral development and social justice. For Kazakhstan to grow more «in brotherhood, dialogue and understanding and to build bridges of solidarity with other peoples, nations and cultures, everyone’s commitment is needed. But first there is a need for a renewed act of faith towards the Lord: look up, look at him, learn from him universal and crucified love ”.
Thus, Pope Francis continued, we arrive at the second image: the serpent that saves. While the people were dying because of the stinging snakes, God listened to Moses’ intercession and said to him, “Make yourself a stinging snake and put it on a pole, because every sting that looks at it will live.” In fact “every man who has been bitten by a snake and has looked at the bronze snake will live”. But we can ask ourselves: why didn’t God destroy the poisonous snakes instead of giving Moses these arduous instructions? This way of acting reveals to us his work in the face of evil, sin and man’s lack of trust. Then, as now, in the great spiritual battle that persists to the end in history, God has not eliminated the lows to which man pursues so freely: the poisonous snakes have not disappeared, but they are still there, they are lurking, and they can always sting. So what has changed, what has God done?
The Pope added, explaining that in the Gospels Jesus said: “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so the Son of man must be lifted up so that whoever believes has eternal life”. Here is the turning point: the serpent that saves has arrived in our midst: Jesus, who was resurrected on the cross, does not allow the poisonous snakes that attack us to lead us to death. And in the face of our humility, God gives us a new elevation: if we fix our gaze on Jesus, the stings of evil will not be able to dominate us, because, on the Cross, He took upon himself the poison of sin and death and defeated their power. destructive. This is what the Father did for the spread of evil in the world. Jesus gave it to us, who approached us as we could never have imagined: “Whoever did not know sin, God made sin for us, so that we might become God’s righteousness in him”. This is the greatness of the infinite divine mercy: Jesus who for us “became a sinner”, Jesus who is on the cross – we can say – “made himself alive” because when we look at him we can resist the poisonous bites of the evil serpents that they attack us.
The Holy Father continued to say, brothers and sisters, this is the only way for our salvation, for our new birth and resurrection: to look at Jesus crucified. From this height we can see our life and the history of our peoples in a new way. Because from the cross of Christ we learn to love, not to hate. We learn pity, not indifference; We learn forgiveness, not revenge. The outstretched arms of Jesus are the tender embrace with which God wants to welcome our life. They show us the fraternity that we are called to live among us. He shows us the way, the Christian way: not the way of imposition and compulsion, of strength and importance, nor the way of those who carry the cross of Christ against the other brothers and sisters for whom Jesus gave his life. ! The way of Jesus is another way, the way of salvation: it is the way of love which is humble, free and universal, without the “if” and without the “but”.
Pope Francis concluded his homily by saying yes, because Christ on the cross removed the poison of an evil snake, and being a Christian means living without toxins: we do not bite, we do not complain, we do not accuse, we do not gossip, do not spread the evil, do not pollute the world With the sin and distrust that come from the evil one. Brothers and sisters, we are reborn from the side of Jesus opened on the cross: let there be no poison of death in us; Rather let us pray that by the grace of God we can become more and more Christians: joyful witnesses of new life, witnesses of love and peace.
At the conclusion of the Eucharist, and after the speech by Archbishop Thomas Bernard Beta, in which he thanked the Holy Father for this visit, asking for his blessing, Pope Francis said: “Thank you, Archbishop Beta, for your words, and thank you for all the efforts that have been made to prepare this celebration and for my visit ”. In this regard, I therefore wish to renew my sincere gratitude to the civil and religious authorities of the country. I greet all of you, brothers and sisters, especially you who have come from other Central Asian countries and from distant parts of this boundless land. I bless the elderly, the sick, children and young people with all my heart.
Today, the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, the Holy Father continued, let us feel spiritually united at the National Shrine of the Queen of Peace in Osiornoye. Archbishop Tomash mentioned that there was a large cross on which it was written: “Gratitude to the people of Kazakhstan” and “Peace to humanity”. Gratitude to the Lord for the holy people of God who live in this great country is united by gratitude for his commitment to promoting dialogue and is transformed into an appeal for peace, the peace our world thirsts for.
I think of many war-torn places, especially dear Ukraine, Pope Francis concluded. We do not get used to war and we do not surrender to its inevitability. We help those who suffer and persevere so that peace is truly sought. What must happen next, how many deaths do we have to wait before the opposition gives way to dialogue for the good of persons, peoples and humanity? The only way out is peace and the only way is dialogue. We continue to pray that the world will learn to build peace, also by stopping the arms race and transforming the huge war expenses into tangible support for the population. Thanks to all who believe in this, thanks and to all the messengers of peace and unity!
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