Pope at Regina Coeli: Seek the Risen One in the community

Pope Francis insists on the need to remain within the Church in order to find Jesus, while calling on the faithful to open our arms to all those who are wounded by life, excluding no one from God’s mercy.

By Christopher Wells

There’s more to the Apostle St Thomas than his famous doubts about Jesus’ Resurrection, Pope Francis said during the Regina Coeli on Divine Mercy Sunday.

The Pope began his reflection on the day’s Gospel by noting that “Thomas was not the only one who struggled to believe.” But unlike his fellow Apostles, who closed themselves inside the Upper Room, Thomas “showed he was courageous,” he “went out, running the risk that someone might recognize, report, or arrest him.”

When the other Apostles told Thomas that Jesus had appeared to them, he struggled to believe them, saying he will believe only when he can see and touch the wounds of Jesus.

Seeking Jesus in the Church

Thomas, the Pope said, “wants an extraordinary sign – to touch the wounds. Jesus shows them to him, but in an ordinary way, coming in front of everyone, in the community.” Jesus makes Himself known in the community, and it is in the presence of the community that He shows the Apostles His wounds, “the proof of his love, the ever-open channels of His mercy.”

Pope Francis explained that we, like Thomas, are invited to “seek the Risen One” not in “some spectacular or amazing religious manifestation, only at the emotional or sensational level,” but within the community of believers, the Church. “Despite all its limitations and failures, which are our own limitations and failures, our Mother Church is the Body of Christ,” the Pope said. “And it is there, in the Body of Christ, that the greatest signs of His love can be found, impressed, now and forever.”

And he invited us to ask ourselves if, “in the name of this love, in the name of Jesus’s wounds, whether we are willing to open our arms to those who are wounded by life, excluding no one from God’s mercy, but welcoming everyone – each person like a brother, like a sister.”

 

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16 April 2023, 12:08

What is the Regina Coeli?

The antiphon Regina Coeli (“Queen of Heaven”) is one of four traditional Marian antiphons, the others being Alma Redemptoris Mater, Ave Regina Coelorum, and Salve Regina.

It was Pope Benedict XIV who, in 1742, enjoined the recitation of the Regina Coeli in place of the Angelus during Eastertide, that is, from Easter Sunday to the end of Pentecost. It is recited standing as a sign of Christ’s victory over death.

Like the Angelus, the Regina Coeli is said three times a day, at dawn, at noon, and at dusk, in order to consecrate the day to God and the Virgin Mary.

This ancient antiphon arose, according to a pious tradition, in the 6th century; it is attested in documentary sources from the first half of the 13th century, when it was inserted in the Franciscan breviary. It is composed of four short verses, each ending with an “alleluia.” With the Regina Coeli, the faithful turn to Mary, the Queen of Heaven, to rejoice with her at the Resurrection of Christ.

At the Regina Coeli on Easter Monday of 2015, Pope Francis spoke about the spiritual dispositions that should animate the faithful as they recite this Marian prayer:

“In this prayer, expressed by the Alleluia, we turn to Mary inviting her to rejoice, because the One whom she carried in her womb is Risen as He promised, and we entrust ourselves to her intercession. In fact, our joy is a reflection of Mary’s joy, for it is she who guarded and guards with faith the events of Jesus. Let us therefore recite this prayer with the emotion of children who are happy because their mother is happy.”

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