Dear brothers and sisters, happy Sunday!

Today the Gospel of the liturgy (Mk 9:30-37) tells us about Jesus who announces what will happen at the culmination of His life: “The Son of man”, says Jesus, “will be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him; and when He is killed, after three days He will rise” (v. 31). The disciples, however, while they are following the Master, have other things in their mind and also on their lips. When Jesus asks them what they were talking about, they do not answer.

Let us pay attention to this silence: the disciples are silent because they were discussing who was the greatest (cf. v. 34). They fall silent out of shame. What a contrast with the words of the Lord! While Jesus confided in them the meaning of His very life, they were talking about power. And so now shame closes their mouth, just as pride had closed their heart earlier. And yet Jesus responds openly to the conversations whispered along the way: “If any one would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all” (cf. v. 35). Do you want to be great? Make yourself small, put yourself at the service of all.

With a word as simple as it is decisive, Jesus renews our way of living. He teaches us that true power does not lie in the dominion of the strongest, but in care for the weakest. True power is taking care of the weakest – this makes you great!

This is why the Master calls a child, puts him in the midst of the disciples and embraces him, saying: “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me” (v. 37). The child has no power; the child has needs. When we take care of man, we recognize that man is always in need of life.

We, all of us, are alive because we have been welcomed, but power makes us forget this truth. You are alive because you have been welcomed! Then, we become dominators, not servants, and the first to suffer as a result are the last: the little ones, the weak, the poor.

Brothers and sisters, how many people, how many, suffer and die for power struggles! Theirs are lives that the world denies, as it denied Jesus, those who are excluded and die… When He is delivered into the hands of men, He finds not an embrace, but a cross. However, the Gospel remains living and filled with hope: He who has denied, is risen, He is the Lord!

Now, on this beautiful Sunday, we can ask ourselves: do I know how to recognize the face of Jesus in the smallest? Do I take care of my neighbour, serving generously? And do I thank those who take care of me?

Let us pray together to Mary, to be, like her, free of vainglory, and ready in service.

Dear brothers and sisters!

I have learned with sorrow that Juan Antonio López has been killed in Honduras. Coordinator of social pastoral care in the diocese of Trujillo, he was a founder member of the pastoral care of integral ecology in Honduras. I join in the grief of that Church, and condemn every form of violence. I am close to all those who see their elementary rights violated, and to those who work for the common good in response to the cry of the poor and the earth.

I greet you all, faithful of Rome and pilgrims from Italy and many other countries. In particular, I greet the Ecuadorians resident in Rome, who are celebrating Our Lady of El Cisne. I greet the “Teresa Enríquez de Torrijos” Choir of Toledo, the group of families and children of Slovakia, and the Mexican faithful.

I greet the participants in the march to raise awareness of the conditions of prisoners. We must work to ensure that prisoners live in dignified conditions. Anyone can make a mistake. One is imprisoned so as to resume an honest life afterwards.

I greet the delegation that has come on the occasion of International Ataxia Awareness Day, and the “La Palma” Association of Castagnola di Massa.

Brothers and sisters, let us continue to pray for peace. Unfortunately, tensions are high on the war fronts. Let the voice of the peoples, who are calling for peace, be heard. Let us not forget tormented Ukraine, Palestine, Israel, Myanmar, the many countries that are at war. Let us pray for peace.

I wish you all a good Sunday. And please, do not forget to pray for me. Enjoy your lunch, and arrivederci!

22.09.24