FRIDAY, APRIL 17, 2020

“There is another stone that often seals the heart shut: the stone of sin.  Sin seduces; it promises things easy and quick, prosperity and success, but then leaves behind only solitude and death.  Sin is looking for life among the dead, for the meaning of life in things that pass away.  Why do you seek the living among the dead?  Why not make up your mind to abandon that sin which, like a stone before the entrance to your heart, keeps God’s light from entering in?  Why not prefer Jesus, the true light (cf. Jn1:9), to the glitter of wealth, career, pride and pleasure?  Why not tell the empty things of this world that you no longer live for them, but for the Lord of life?  God asks us to view life as He views it, for in each of us He never ceases to see an irrepressible kernel of beauty.  In sin, He sees sons and daughters to be restored; in death, brothers and sisters to be reborn; in desolation, hearts to be revived.  Do not fear, then: the Lord loves your life, even when you are afraid to look at it and take it in hand.  In Easter He shows you how much He loves that life: even to the point of living it completely, experiencing anguish, abandonment, death and hell, in order to emerge triumphant to tell you: “You are not alone; put your trust in me!””

Pope Francis