Benedict XVI: "We must see with heart."

Pope Benedict XVI's homily last Sunday for Palm Sunday ended with these words:

"
Jesus shows God as the One who loves and his power as the power of love. Thus, he tells us what will always be part of the correct worship of God: healing, serving and the goodness that cures.

And then there are children who pay homage to Jesus as the Son of David and acclaim him the Hosanna. Jesus had said to his disciples that to enter the Kingdom of God it was essential to become once again like children. He himself, who embraces the whole world, made himself little in order to come to our aid, to draw us to God. In order to recognize God, we must give up the pride that dazzles us, that wants to drive us away from God as though God were our rival. To encounter God it is necessary to be able to see with the heart. We must learn to see with a child's heart, with a youthful heart not hampered by prejudices or blinded by interests. Thus, it is in the lowly who have such free and open hearts and recognize Jesus, that the Church sees her own image, the image of believers of all ages.

Dear friends, let us join at this moment the procession of the young people of that time - a procession that winds through the whole of history. Together with young people across the world let us go forth to meet Jesus. Let us allow ourselves to be guided toward God by him, to learn from God himself the right way to be human beings. Let us thank God with him because with Jesus, Son of David, he has given us a space of peace and reconciliation that embraces the world with the Holy Eucharist. Let us pray to him that we too may become, with him and starting from him, messengers of his peace, adorers in spirit and truth, so that his Kingdom may increase in us and around us. Amen."

That was the end of the Holy Father's homily. He said that Jesus shows us the power of love and that to see that power of love that Jesus shows we need to see with our hearts. The children cheered Jesus as He entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, and the Pope invites us to join them in their jubilation. To join them and to be able to see Jesus, we must become like them; it is not too much for you and me to become like children if God Himself was able to do it in Bethlehem. We must flee from pride and see with a child's heart unencumbered by prejudice or selfish interests; becoming humble and lowly, our hearts will become free and open like a child, and we will be able to recognize Jesus. Jesus, in Himself, gives the world a space for peace and reconciliation, for healing and goodness, for worship and love, and we encounter Jesus as He seeks us out and embraces the world in the Holy Eucharist. It is in our encounter with Christ in the Holy Eucharist that we worship in spirit and truth and that the Kingdom of God increases in us and spills out of us to all those around us.

This Holy Thursday, the commemoration of the Last Supper and the institution of the Holy Eucharist, let us encounter Jesus anew with the eyes of faith, with the heart of a simple, trusting child, and entrust our whole selves to Him as He gives Himself to us. This is why Jesus came and became a man. He wanted to give Himself to us and become one with you and me. He says: "I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you." Let's earnestly desire to receive Him in every Holy Communion, and hold Him dearly within our hearts throughout each day.


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