Cardinal Dominique Mamberti celebrated the ninth Mass of the Novendiales on May 4th in suffrage for Pope Francis. In his homily, he emphasized the connection between the prayer of adoration and the success of the evangelizing mission that Christ entrusts to his disciples.
The Liturgy of the Word for this last novendial in suffrage of Pope Francis is that of the day, the third Sunday of Easter, and the newly proclaimed page of the Gospel of John presents us with the encounter of the risen Jesus with some apostles and disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, which concludes with the mission entrusted to Peter by the Lord and Jesus’ command, “Follow me!”
The episode recalls the first miraculous catch of fish, narrated by Luke, when Jesus called Simon, James, and John, announcing to Simon that he would become a fisher of men. From that moment on, Peter followed him, sometimes in misunderstanding and even betrayal, but in today’s encounter, the last before Christ’s return to the Father, Peter receives from Him the task of shepherding his flock.
Love is the key word in this Gospel passage. The first to recognize Jesus is “the disciple whom Jesus loved,” John, who exclaims, “It is the Lord!” Peter immediately jumps into the sea to reach the Master. After sharing a meal, which will have rekindled in the hearts of the apostles the memory of the Last Supper, the dialogue between Jesus and Peter begins: the Lord’s triple question and Peter’s triple response.
The first two times, Jesus uses the verb “to love,” a powerful word, while Peter, aware of the betrayal, responds with the less demanding expression “I love you.” The third time, Jesus himself uses the expression “to want,” adapting to the apostle’s weakness. Pope Benedict XVI emphasized this when commenting on this dialogue. Simon understands that his poor love is enough for Jesus, the only one he is capable of. (…) It is precisely this divine adaptation that gives hope to the disciple, who has known the suffering of infidelity. (…) From that day on, Peter “followed” the Master, clearly aware of his own fragility; but this awareness did not discourage him. He knew, in fact, that he could count on the presence of the Risen Lord at his side (…) and thus he too shows us the way.
In his homily for the Mass for the 25th anniversary of his pontificate, Saint John Paul II confided: “Today, dear brothers and sisters, I am pleased to share with you an experience that has lasted a quarter of a century. Every day, the same dialogue between Jesus and Peter unfolds in my heart. In my spirit, I fix my gaze on the benevolent gaze of the Risen Christ. He, aware of my human frailty, encourages me to respond with confidence like Peter: ‘Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you’” (Jn 21:17). And then he invites me to assume the responsibilities that he himself has entrusted to me.”
This mission is love itself, which becomes a service to the Church and to all humanity. Peter and the apostles immediately embraced it, empowered by the Spirit they received at Pentecost, as we heard in the first reading: “We must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead, whom you had killed by hanging him on a cross. God exalted him to his right hand as leader and Savior.” We have all admired how Pope Francis, animated by the love of the Lord and driven by his grace, has been faithful to his mission to the utmost of his strength. He warned those in power that they must obey God rather than men and proclaimed to all humanity the joy of the Gospel, of the Merciful Father, of Christ the Savior. He did this in his teaching, in his travels, in his actions, in his way of life. I was close to him on Easter Sunday, in the blessing loggia of this basilica, a witness to his suffering, but above all to his courage and his determination to serve the People of God until the end.
In the second reading, taken from the Book of Revelation, we heard the praise that the entire universe addresses to the One seated on the throne and to the Lamb: “Praise, honor, glory, and power, forever and ever.” And the four living creatures said, “Amen.” And the elders fell down and worshipped.
Adoration is an essential dimension of the Church’s mission and of the life of the faithful. Pope Francis frequently recalled this, such as in his homily for the Feast of Epiphany last year: “The Magi have their hearts bowed down in adoration. (…) They came to Bethlehem and, when they saw the Child, ‘they fell down and worshipped him’ (Mt 2:11). (…) A king who came to serve us, a God who became man. Before this mystery, we are called to bend our hearts and knees in adoration: to adore the God who comes in smallness, who inhabits the normality of our homes, who dies for love. (…) Brothers and sisters, we have lost the habit of adoration, we have lost this capacity that adoration gives us. Let us rediscover the joy of the prayer of adoration. (…) Adoration is lacking today.”
This capacity for adoration was not difficult to recognize in Pope Francis. His intense pastoral life, his countless encounters, were founded on the long moments of prayer that Ignatian discipline had imprinted on him. He often reminded us that contemplation is “a dynamic of love” that “raises us to God, not to detach us from the earth, but to make us dwell deeply in it.” And everything he did, he did under the gaze of Mary. His 126 stops before the Salus Populi Romani will remain in our memory and in our hearts. And now that he rests beside the beloved image, we entrust him with gratitude and trust to the intercession of the Mother of the Lord and our Mother.