PASTORAL VISIT TO ASSISI
MEETING WITH THE SICK AND DISABLED CHILDREN
ASSISTED AT THE SERAPHIC INSTITUTE
ADDRESS OF POPE FRANCIS
Assisi – Friday, 4 October 2013

We are among the wounds of Jesus, as you have said, Madam. You also said that these wounds need to be heard, to be acknowledged. And this makes us think of that moment when the Lord Jesus was walking with the two sad disciples. The Lord Jesus, in the end, showed them his wounds and they recognized him. Then the bread, when he is there. My brother Domenico – bishop of Assisi – was saying to me that here you have Adoration. That bread too needs to be heard, because Jesus is present and hidden in the simplicity and meekness of bread. And here is Jesus hidden in these boys and girls, in these children, in these people. On the altar we adore the Flesh of Jesus; in the people we find the wounds of Jesus. Jesus hidden in the Eucharist and Jesus hidden in these wounds. They need to be heard! Maybe not so much in newspapers as news; there they take notice for one, two, three days, then something else comes up, and another thing…. The wounds should be heard by those who call themselves Christian. The Christian adores Jesus, the Christian seeks Jesus, the Christian knows how to recognize the wounds of Jesus. And today, all of us, here, need to say: “These wounds must be heard!”. But there is something else that gives us hope. Jesus is present in the Eucharist, here is the Flesh of Jesus; Jesus is present among you, it is the Flesh of Jesus: the wounds of Jesus are present in these people.

However, it is interesting: when Jesus resurrected, he was very beautiful. He had neither bruises nor wounds on his body… nothing! He was even more beautiful! He wanted only to keep his wounds and to carry them with him to Heaven. Jesus’ wounds are here and in Heaven before the Father. We heal the wounds of Jesus here and he, from Heaven, shows us his wounds and says to us all, to all of us: “I am waiting for you!”. Let it be so!

May the Lord bless you all. May his love descend on us, may he walk with us; May Jesus tell us that our wounds are his and may he help us give voice, that we Christians may listen to them.

Jubilee for the Sick and Persons with Disabilities