Hope
“Paradise is neither a fairy tale place, nor an enchanted garden. Paradise is the embrace with God, who is infinite love, and there we enter thanks to Jesus who died on the Cross for us”. Pope Francis explained this in the final part of his audience today, in which he stated that “Where there is Jesus, there is mercy and happiness; without Him, there is coldness and darkness”. At the hour of death, a Christian repeats to Jesus: ‘Remember me’”, Pope Francis continued, quoting the words of the Good Thief: “And even if there was no one to remember us, remember Jesus is there, beside us. He wants to take us to the most beautiful place that exists. He wants to take us there, with the little or much good that we did in our lives, so that nothing will be lost of what He has already redeemed. And He will take to the Father’s house also everything in us that is still in need of redemption: the omissions and mistakes of our entire lives”. “This is the goal of our existence: that everything should be fulfilled, and transformed into love”, the Pope concluded: “If we believe this, then death will cease to scare us, and we can also hope to leave this world with serenity, and much confidence”. “He who has known Jesus is not afraid of anything”, Pope Francis assured: “And we too will be able to repeat the words of the old man Simeon, who was also blessed by the encounter with Christ, after he had spent his whole life waiting for that: ‘Lord, now you let your servant go in peace, according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation’. And at that moment, finally, we won’t need anything else, we will no longer see dimly. We will no longer cry unnecessarily, because everything will be over: the prophecies, and even knowledge. But not love, love remains. Because charity will never end”.
