“I have awaited you day and night”
The message of Fr. Carrón to the pilgrims of Macerata-Loreto

Dear friends, Going toward Loreto, you will more easily discover the bottomless depths of your need if
you keep before your eyes the witness the Lord has given us to make a human journey today: Pope
Francis. Who could have imagined his way of answering the problems of the world and the urgent
needs of life? A Jubilee Year of Mercy. “Yes, humanly speaking, it is foolish, but ‘the foolishness of
God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men’ (I Cor 1:25).” Let us learn this
outlook from the Pope. “That which delights and attracts, that which humbles and overcomes, that
which opens and unleashes, is not the power of instruments or the force of law, but rather the
omnipotent weakness of divine love, which is the irresistible force of its gentleness and the irrevocable
pledge of its mercy.”
The Pilgrimage is a wonderful opportunity to learn to wait for the Lord day and night and to be able to
recognize Christ who, coming out to meet us, evokes in us the need to be forgiven, tears us away from
our distraction and draws us to Him anew, as He did with the disciples on the road to Emmaus.
May you relive the experience of the prodigal son on the road toward home, deeply missing his father,
as the Pope told us recently, perceiving “how the heart of the Father beats with love for us. It was a
heart beating with worry, as he went up onto the roof to look out. What was he looking at? The possible
return of his son… Mercy makes us experience our freedom.” In fact, nothing is mechanical, like every
step you will take tonight. Your freedom always has to decide what position to take, the boundless
gratitude of the prodigal son or the offense taken by the son who remained at home. Gratitude brings
you forward, while taking offense blocks you.
May silence and prayer fill you with wonder at God’s beating heart for each of us: it will be like reliving
the long journey of Israel to Christ, dominated by an embrace more faithful than our
unfaithfulness, “the embrace of the God who creates us, who created us and allowed this mystery of
original sin. He allowed this foolishness of disintegration, the inability to achieve unity and perfection,
allowed it so as to fill everything with His nature of God, that is, with His mercy” (Fr. Giussani).
For this reason, we do not fear. We are not discouraged and do not give up, but we advance in hope. “A
total positivity in life must guide the soul of Christians, in any situation, no matter what regrets they
may have, no matter what injustices burden them, no matter what darkness or enmity surrounds them,
no matter what death assails them, because God, who made all living beings, is for the good. God is the
positive hypothesis regarding what we live, even if this positivity at times seems defeated in us by the
storms of life” (Fr. Giussani).
Thank you for the testimony you will give, sustained, like Mary, by your yes to Christ, and this alone.
As you return to your homes, may your faces shine with an otherwise impossible differentness, a sign
of the great attraction of the gaze of Christ, because “mercy is a visceral emotion” (Pope Francis).
Among your prayer intentions, please include a special one for Pope Francis and also for me, for the
renewal of my “Yes, Lord, You know I love You” for the benefit of your life.
United with you in faith,