by Gian Guido Vecchi
On Sunday, 10,000 copies of the book “Why are you afraid? Still don’t have faith? »: Texts and images of a unique moment in the history of the Church
VATICAN CITY The flames of the braziers illuminate the darkness in the center of the colonnade and all around the darkness and silence marked by the cries of seagulls, the distant sirens of ambulances and the rain pounding on the cobblestones. Two years have passed since the “Statio Orbis” of March 27, 2020, when the Pope prayed alone in the empty square for the end of the pandemic. On Sunday, in St. Peter’s Basilica, ten thousand copies of the book Why are you afraid? Still don’t have faith? , edited by the Dicastery of Communication and edited by Lev and Piemme, which reconstructs this unique moment in the history of the Church, the text of the meditation, the images, the catechesis and the subsequent reflections, the memory of Francis himself: “I walked like this, alone, thinking of the loneliness of so many people… ». The Pope prayed before the Crucifix of San Marcello, considered a miracle in popular veneration, which crossed the streets of Rome in 1522 to end the “Great Plague”. In the book, the Pope tells Father Lucio Adrián Ruiz what he asked God that evening: “Do you know that, already in 1500 you solved such a situation “halfhandedly. That expression “put your hands on” is very much mine. I often say in prayer: “Please put your hand on it! ». The title takes up the Gospel reading that inspired Francis’ meditation, from the fourth chapter of Mark’s Gospel, the episode of the calmed storm, the disciples’ fear of the waves threatening to overturn the boat, and Jesus sleeping peacefully in the stern He is awakened, he commands the wind and the sea to calm down, and then he says to them: «Why are you afraid? Still don’t have faith? ».
Faith, the Pope said at the time, “is not so much believing that you exist as coming to you and trusting you. In the stillness around St. Peter’s he sang: “Darkness has thickened over our squares, streets and cities, they have taken over our lives, filling everything with a deafening silence and a desolate emptiness that paralyzes everything in its path: one feels in the air, you can feel it in the gestures, the looks tell you. We found ourselves scared and lost ». The Vatican Post has prepared a postage stamp and a commemorative cancellation; On Sunday, a video by the Dicastery of Integral Human Development and the Covid Commission will be projected on the big screens of St. Peter’s Square, reviving the importance of Francis’ meditation, the need for a common solidarity commitment, an image of the contemporary world: we realized that we were in the same boat, all fragile and disoriented, but at the same time important and necessary, all called to row together, all needing to comfort each other. We’re all on this boat. We, too, have recognized that we cannot make progress on our own, but only together”. Increasingly relevant words linked to the “act of consecration” to Mary “of mankind, especially Russia and Ukraine” that Francis demanded on the day of the Annunciation: “Deliver us from war, save the world from the nuclear threat”.
March 26, 2022 (Modification March 26, 2022 | 09:46)
© REPRODUCTION RESERVED