Risen One, open our hearts to perceive your love!

by Elia Cárdenas, D.Min, Associate Director

Image by Claudia Cárdenas

While celebrating Easter, we hear amazing resurrection stories, beginning with Mary of Magdala, a woman who was an unafraid apostle who went to the tomb the next day without even thinking about how they would move the stone, and in doing so she becomes the first resurrection witness. The stories are inspiring because of their faith and how their hearts burst into a spark of love.

Another historical event occurred while living the joy of Easter: our dear Pope Francis returning to the Fathers' house. While many will try to remind us of his pontificate and theological and philosophical legacy, I would like to be grateful for his life and our church heritage, which, with him, had a credible voice around the world. His words will be a legacy to generations to come and will continue inspiring many people. I am grateful for his nearness to the marginalized, his preferential option for the poor, his support for those affected by disasters in our common house, his openness to assigning a woman for the first time to lead the dicastery for consecrated life and several women undersecretaries, both religious and lay and his words of wisdom about the LGTBQ community: "Who I am to judge."

Today, as we hear how some people are claiming that he should be recognized as the Pope of Mercy,  I would like to share with you a section of the book Dear Pope Francis from Loyola Press,  in which he responds to a question by Ivan, a 13-year-old boy from China, where we can sense Pope Francis merciful heart:

Your Holiness,

Will my grandpa, a non-Catholic who is not a person willing to do something evil, go to heaven when he dies? In other words, if someone never makes any penances, how big a sin must he commit for him to go down to Hell?

Dear Ivan,

Jesus loves us so very much, and he wants all of us to go to heaven. God's will is that everybody would be saved. Jesus walks with us until the very last moment of our lives, so we can always be with him. Now appearances can certainly deceive us. For example, some people think that because you don't follow every Church rule to the letter, you will automatically go to hell. But in fact, Jesus is beside us throughout our lives- to the very last moment!- to save us.

Once, a woman went to a holy priest whose name was John Maria Vianney. He was the pastor of the parish in Ars, in France. The woman begin to cry, because her husband had committed suicide by jumping off a bridge. She was desperate because she thought that her husband had certainly ended up in hell. But Father John Maria, who was a saint, said to her, "Look, between the bridge and the river, there is the mercy of God."

As we mourn our dear Pope Francis, may the Spirit inspire the cardinals and grant us a Shepherd with a great heart.