Pope Francis closed the
Year of Faith by calling on people to keep Christ at the center of their
lives, especially in times of trouble. "When Jesus is at the center,
light shines even the darkest moments of our lives; he gives us hope,"
he said in his homily November 24, the feast of Christ the King. The closing
Mass in St. Peter's Square also saw, for the first time, the exposition
for public veneration of bones believed to be those of St. Peter. The
apostle is believed to have been martyred on a hill overlooking St.
Peter's Square and buried a tomb now located two levels below the main
altar of St. Peter's Basilica. Eight bone fragments, each two to three
centimeters long, were nestled in an open bronze reliquary displayed to
the side of the altar. During the ceremony, the pope -- the 265th
successor of Peter -- held the closed reliquary for several minutes in
silent prayer while choirs sang the Nicene Creed in Latin. The bones,
which were discovered during excavations of the necropolis under St.
Peter's Basilica in the 1940s, are kept in the pope's private chapel but
had never been displayed in public. While no pope has ever declared the
bones to be authentic, Pope Paul VI said in 1968 that the "relics" of
St. Peter had been "identified in a way which we can hold to be
convincing." How can you not love Pope Francis? His honesty and decision to make the papacy as transparent as possible recalls the ministry of Jesus Christ while He was on earth. I am thankful that God has decided to allow Pope Francis to lead His church.
I am just beginning to dive into the beautiful, ancient devotion to the Five Wounds of Jesus, and I wanted to share a bit of the journey with you. It can feel a little overwhelming at first to look at the Crucifix this closely, but I’ve found such a gentle guide in St. Bernard of Clairvaux . In his Jubilee Rhythm on the Passion, Bernard doesn't treat the wounds of Jesus as distant historical facts or sights to be avoided. Instead, he approaches them with the tenderness of a friend, speaking directly to the feet, hands, side, and face of our Lord. For someone like me who is just starting out, his rhythm teaches that prayer isn't just about reciting words; it’s a holy hide-and-seek. Bernard invites us to literally hide ourselves within these wounds, seeing them as clefts in the rock where we can find shelter when our own lives feel turbulent or heavy. As I start this process, I’ve been practicing what I call gazing and greeting. Following Bernard’s lead, I look at the Crucifix an...