Vatican City, 26 April, 2020 / 11:56 am (ACI Africa).
Jesus invites us to live with him in the present and not to get stuck in the disappointments and ‘what ifs’ of the past, Pope Francis said in his message before the Regina coeli antiphon on Sunday.
Like the disciples Jesus met on the road to Emmaus, as his disciples today we have “opposite directions” we could go, the pope said April 26 via livestream from the Vatican’s apostolic palace.
There are those who “let themselves be paralyzed by the disappointments of life and go forward sad,” the pope stated. “And there is the way of those who do not put themselves and their problems first.” These people put Jesus and their brothers and sisters before themselves, he said.
In his message, Francis reflected on the day’s Gospel, Luke 24:13-35, when Jesus appears to the two disciples on the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus.
The first journey to Emmaus “occurs in sadness,” but the disciples’ return to Jerusalem occurs “in joy,” he explained. “In the first they are discouraged and hopeless; in the second, they rush to bring to others the good news of the encounter with the Risen Jesus.”