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Youth News

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Easter Egg Toss

WINONA – Sacred Heart parish youth hosted their first Easter Eggstravaganza including a raw egg toss, pictured. The students also enjoyed dying eggs, face/arm painting, crafts, relay races, egg toss and a “pock the egg” tourney. The event ended with a picnic lunch. (Photo by Tara Trost)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Crowning Mary

JACKSON – St. Richard School hosted a May crowning for every Mary statue on campus on Wednesday, May 10. Above, Pre-K4 student Elizabeth Elmore leaving a flower at the base of the Mary statue outside in the Mary garden.

Sixth-grader Alexia Brown crowns the statue in the church as Catherine Amy watches.

Pre-K4 students Max Oviedo and Gemma Metzger crown the Mary statue outside in the Mary garden near the front door. (Photos by Chris Lombard)

GREENVILLE – Students from Our Lady of Lourdes gathered outside on May 11 to honor Mary. LillyAnn Pearson carries the crown and Ashton Barnes carries a rosary as they walk to the statue with Ally Moss and Clayton Hensley. The students took time to honor their teachers and retiring principal Michelle Gardiner. (Photos by Missi Blackstock)

Students from Our Lady of Lourdes gathered outside on May 11 to honor Mary.

Students from Our Lady of Lourdes gathered outside on May 11 to honor Mary.

Flight to the finish

JACKSON – The Cardinal Men’s Club hosted the Flight to the Finish 5-K race Saturday, May 6 at St. Richard Parish. Above, Andrew Doherty takes off at the start of the fun run. (Photo by Chris Lombard)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Service project prepares youth for confirmation

GREENWOOD – The confirmation candidates from Winona Sacred Heart Parish spent a Saturday in April working in the garden around the Chapel of Mercy at Locus Benedictus retreat center. The work included weeding the beds all around the chapel as well as mulching and planting rose bushes. The youth have adopted the spot at the retreat center and will maintain the flower beds. Locus Benedictus Spirituality Center is a private retreat center serving the diocese. The Redemptorist community serving Hispanics in the Delta base their operations from a home they share on site.

Spring recital at St. Thea Bowman

JACKSON – On Thursday, May 4, Students from Sr. Thea Bowman School demonstrated their many talents at the spring recital. In addition to dancing, singing and music, there were martial arts demonstrations and public speaking. (Photos by Melisa Smalley)

Spring recital at St. Thea Bowman

 

Durant Sisters remembered, honored in town where they served

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By Ruthie Robison
DURANT — A downpour of rain didn’t dampen a dedication and blessing ceremony of a monument to honor the lives of Sisters Margaret Held, SCN, and Paula Merrill, SSSF.
A crowd of about 100 gathered Saturday, May 20, in Durant’s Liberty Park and weathered the Saturday afternoon storm to pay tribute to the two Sisters, who both made a lasting impact on the community in which they resided for the last 15 years of their lives.
Merrill, who was with the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth based in Nazareth, Kentucky, and Held, who was with the School Sisters of St. Francis based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, were slain in their Durant home on Aug. 25, 2016. They were both 68.
The two nurse practitioners worked at Lexington Medical Clinic and attended St. Thomas Catholic Church in Lexington, located about 10 miles west from their home.
“It was wonderful to see so many people come here from around the country,” said the Rev. Greg Plata, OFM, pastor of St. Thomas, who led the service. “Even though it was a horrible day weather-wise, that did not deter from the joy of the day that we come together. I think that every time I go that way, (the monument) will be a place for me to stop and say a prayer and be thankful to God for these two amazing women. It’s just a great way to remember our sisters.”
Some of those attending the event included Durant city leaders, family members and longtime friends of Held and Merrill, staff members and patients of Lexington Medical Clinic and parishioners of St. Thomas.
The dedication service featured speakers Durant Mayor Tasha Davis and Bishop Joseph Kopacz, songs, prayer, Scripture readings and the unveiling of the monument.
To start the event, Davis welcomed those attending.
“I know it is a sad event that we’re here, but they were such wonderful people,” she said. “The Bible teaches us to give honor where honor is due, and we can all agree that it is befitting to honor these two ladies who left an everlasting mark on the city of Durant and Holmes County as a whole.”
Before blessing the monument, Kopacz spoke of the sisters’ service to their communities.
“Just as from the heavens the rain and the snow come down and accomplish what they’re sent to do, so Sister Paula and Sister Margaret came to these communities, accomplished God’s mission and returned to life fulfilled in heaven,” he said.
 After the unveiling, several people in attendance shared sentiments about Held and Merrill.
Mary James, who worked with the Sisters at Lexington Medical Clinic, said that she and the other staff members at the clinic were truly blessed to have known both Held and Merrill.
“They took me under their wings, and we became family,” she said. “The sisters’ angelic presence was so great. We miss them daily. … Whenever we get a little down or teary-eyed, we remember these words, ‘Let love win.’ If the sisters were here today, they would probably say something like this: ‘There’s no love like forgiveness, and there’s no forgiveness without love.'”
Held’s brother, James Held, spoke of his sister’s love for the people of Durant and Holmes County.
“We always tried to convince her to come back to the Midwest,” he said. “We never could convince her to come back, and we missed her. She loved you so much, and she stayed and she gave her life for all of you.”
James said that the Held family has felt terrible pain since his sister’s tragic death, but he also knows that the pain felt by the members of the Mississippi community where she touched so many lives must be equally as bad.
“Now that she has passed we have our sorrow, but we think of your sorrow,” he said. “You saw her every day. She touched your lives on a daily basis, and now you have that gap that Margaret’s gone, and you’re reminded of that all the time.”
Merrill’s family was unable to attend the ceremony. Connie Blake, a longtime friend of Merrill’s and an associate with the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, spoke on behalf of the family.
“Sister Paula was my friend for over 49 years,” she said. “One thing she said she always wanted to do was to follow what we’ve all been asked to do, and that’s to love one another and to care for one another, and indeed that was her life’s work.”
Blake said she and Merrill’s family are humbled and overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and support they continue to receive.
Held and Merrill “would be astonished and somewhat embarrassed by all of this attention,” she said. “Paula and Margaret were quiet, humble and simple women, who lived out their passion to serve the undeserved in Mississippi.”
Durant Alderwoman Carolyn Riley led a grassroots effort to memorialize Held and Merrill with the monument at Liberty Park. Riley, who did not know the sisters personally, said she was touched in the wake of the tragedy when she heard the many stories about what all the women did for the community — taking care of the sick and uninsured, providing medicine for those who could not afford it and even helping someone sign up for disability.
“I feel like their love was heartfelt to the community. The service they gave to the community, because it came from the heart, it touches the heart,” she said. “When I saw (the people of Durant) so hurt and so distraught, it touched my heart, and I said, ‘We cannot forget them,’ because they did so much for us, not only in Durant but Holmes County. They shouldn’t be forgotten. I want my children, my grandchildren, my great-grandchildren to always remember them.”
After a closing prayer and blessing by Father Plata, a memorial Mass was held at St. Thomas, followed by a fish fry.
With the storms passed and the sun out and shining, parishioners and guests gathered outside St. Thomas to dry off and share memories of the sisters before the church service.
Sister Michele Doyle, SSSF, of Ridgeland, who also teaches a weekly Bible study at the church, remembered Held and Merrill as women who did “all the right things.”
“They recycled. They had their own garden. They lived a very simple life. They were helping the poor,” she said. “They were my very good friends, and I miss them a lot.”
A couple of nurses who are both members of the church talked about how Held and Merrill were respected in the local medical community and would go out of their way to help any of their patients.
“They were just so generous with their time and their money, and they treated everybody so personably,” said Barbara Bogy, a registered nurse at University Hospital-Lexington.
“They were just goodness walking,” added Beverly Brown, now retired from the Health Department in Lexington. “You couldn’t find a patient who didn’t love them to pieces, because they helped everybody.”
The group reminisced about Merrill’s delicious oatmeal cookies that she would bring to church potlucks and Held’s salads, featuring veggies from her garden and a homemade dressing, which she brought to the weekly Bible study class.
“They were excellent cooks,” said Sister Doyle.
Jamie Sample, the music leader at St. Thomas, said that the past several months have been hard for the 35-member parish.
“They were like our family, and they were my choir. Every time I pick the music out, I cry,” she said. “We just miss them so much. It’s just left such a void. They did so much that we didn’t even know that they did.”
Sister Tonya Severin, vice provincial for the Western Province of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, who knew Merrill for the past 14 years, said she thought the monument would be a way for the people of Durant and Holmes County to keep a connection to Held and Merrill.
“They were such a presence to the people of this area that I think if they just go to that memorial and just sit there and talk or touch it, somehow that touching can bring back some of that connection again and can be a way to find strength to go on, because that’s what they brought to us,” she said. “I think it isn’t just their deaths that are important, it’s their lives. They lived with the message of Jesus, that we are to give of ourselves in loving service to others, and that’s what they did so unobtrusively.”
As the rain began to fall during the dedication ceremony, Sister Ramona Schmidtknecht, SSSF, of Holly Springs, said she immediately thought about telephone conversations she had with her friend, Held.
“She would call us from Durant and ask if we got rain, and she’d say, ‘Oh, it missed us again,’ and she said, ‘It goes everywhere around us but in Durant,’” said Schmidtknecht. “She would want rain for her flowers, and she said, ‘We just don’t get it.’ She brought the rain today, but I thought, ‘OK, but not so much.’”
(Ruthie Robison is the lifestyles editor for the Greenwood Commonwealth and a member of Greenwood Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish.)

A memorial dedicated to Sister Paula Merrill, SCN, and Sister Margaret Held, SSSF, was blessed and dedicated Saturday, May 20 in Durant, Miss.

DURANT – A memorial dedicated to Sister Paula Merrill, SCN, and Sister Margaret Held, SSSF, was blessed and dedicated Saturday, May 20 in Durant, Miss. The women, who were murdered in their home last fall, were nurse practitioners at a local health clinic. A town alderwoman got the idea to place a memorial in the park at the center of town. The skies opened up during the service, drenching all who attended (Photos by Ruthie Robison)

God dreams big, wants to transform world, defeat evil, pope says

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By Carol Glatz
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – God is right by the side of each person on earth, seeing each individual’s pain and wanting to bring hope and joy, Pope Francis said.
“He calls us by name and tells us, ‘Rise up, stop weeping, because I have come to free you,’” the pope said May 17 at his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square.
The pope continued his series of talks on Christian hope by looking at the Gospel of John’s account of St. Mary Magdalene visiting Jesus’ tomb.
She was the first to go to the tomb after his burial, he said, pointing out that the same love and loyalty can be seen today in the many women who head to the cemetery, visiting their dearly departed for years, showing how not even death can break the bonds of love.
In Mary Magdalene’s case, however, she experienced not only the sadness of Christ’s death, but also the discovery that his body had disappeared, the pope said.
Just as she is weeping near the tomb, “God surprises her in the most unexpected way,” the pope said, even though she is stubbornly “blind” to recognizing the two angels and the Risen Christ.
Eventually, he said, “she discovers the most earth-shattering event in human history when she is finally called by name.”
“How beautiful it is to think that the first appearance of the Risen One, according to the Gospels, happened in such a personal way. That there is someone who knows us, who sees our suffering and disappointment,” whose heart breaks “for us and who calls us by name,” he said.
Reading the Gospels, one can see how many people seek God, he said, “but the most extraordinary fact is that God was there in the first place,” long before, watching, worrying and wanting to bring relief.
Each and every person “is a story of love that God has written on this earth,” the pope said. “Each one of us is a story of God’s love” and he patiently waits and forgives each person.
Hearing God call her name revolutionized Mary Magdalene’s life just as it will revolutionize and transform the life of every man and woman, he said.
Christ’s resurrection brings a joy that does not come in dribs and drabs “with an eyedropper,” he said, but as “a waterfall” that will envelop one’s whole life.
The life of a Christian isn’t pervaded by “soft bliss, but by waves that knock everything over,” Pope Francis said. Think about it right now, he told the 15,000 pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square. “With the baggage of disappointments and defeat that each one of us carries in our heart, there is a God near us, calling us by name,” he                      said.
This God is not “inert,” he doesn’t bend to the whims of the world, and he will not let death, sadness, hatred and the moral destruction of people have the last word.
“Our God,” the pope said, “is a dreamer, who dreams of the transformation of the world and achieved it with the mystery of the resurrection.”
The pope prayed that St. Mary Magdalene would help people listen to Jesus calling their name as they weep and mourn, and that they then venture forth with hearts filled with joy, proclaiming his living presence to others.
Having witnessed the Lord, “is our strength and our hope,” he said.

Pastoral ministries workshop, retreats mesh with new priorities

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By Maureen Smith
The Office of Faith Formation for the Diocese of Jackson continues to respond to the diocesan priority of intentional formation of life-long disciples with new offerings at its annual Pastoral Ministries Retreats and Workshops in the first week of June at Lake Tia O’Kahata.
“One recurring theme that was brought up at all of the listening sessions with Bishop Joseph Kopacz was intentional faith formation for catechists and other lay persons in pastoral ministries including adult faith formation, youth ministry, RCIA and pastoral care,” wrote Fran Lavelle, director of Faith Formation for the diocese in an email. “As we move forward, we are evaluating the programs, workshops and retreats provided by the diocese for professional development and catechetical training. The Pastoral Ministries Workshop is a useful tool to help form and inform Catholic lay leadership for your parish,” she added.
The retreat and workshop is really three events rolled into one week: a retreat for those in ministry, an opportunity for an extended retreat, and a four-day workshop including classes needed to be certified as a lay minister for the diocese. The certification process is five years long and starts at the Pastoral Ministries workshop.


The retreats are guided. The shorter one starts Sunday, June 4, and ends at lunch on Monday, June 5. The cost is $120. The extended retreat starts Monday and runs through Thursday, June 8, and can be combined with the workshop. The extended retreat alone costs $400. The theme this year follows the 2017-2018 catechetical theme announced by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, ‘Living as Missionary Disciples.’
The workshop is part of the five-year certification process and each year builds on the previous one, so people taking it tend to form a community with others going through the program. It runs from Monday, June 5, through Thursday, June 8. Classes progress from introductory level theology through prayer, canon law and administration in a parish. The workshop is $500. Those taking a combination of the workshop and the retreat will pay reduced rates and scholarship money is available. The deadline to register is May 15.
The classes are taught by a team of excellent presenters, the atmosphere is relaxing, the daily liturgies are inspiring and for those attending the retreat there is ample opportunity for personal quiet time and reflection. Lavelle said a concerted effort is made to create a welcoming and inviting environment. “A lot of our attendees work for the Church in full time capacities, but some work full time in a job outside the church.” Lavelle hopes to provide a solid formation experience, mixed with great liturgies, and time to make connections that are helpful the other 51 weeks of the year. “We try to maximize the benefits of the limited time we have together,” Lavelle added.
Patti Greene, youth minister at Gluckstadt St. Joseph, and Canton Sacred Heart Parishes, is completing her last year in the program. “For me, the Pastoral Ministries Workshop has made all the difference in how I conduct my ministry. My first year, I had no idea what to expect, and was not looking forward to ‘another workshop.’ But this is not just a workshop. The Pastoral Ministries Workshop is where I finally surrendered my reservations and preconceptions about my ministry and opened myself to the guidance of the Spirit to truly lead my ministry. It was there that I found value in becoming a lifelong disciple and servant, so I could become a better teacher and leader” she said. “Each year that I attend, I discover multitude of resources in materials shared as well as in a network of common experiences and bonds with my brothers and sisters in Christ and in ministry. During this time of spiritual and professional renewal, I began once again my creative process of shaping the next year of our youth ministry. This year, my fifth year, as June approaches, I grow increasingly impatient to begin my next, but hopefully not last, journey to Lake Tiak O’Khata,” Greene added.
To enroll in the certification process or inquire about the retreats, contact Fran Lavelle at (601) 960-8473 or by email at fran.lavelle@jacksondiocese.org.

Catholic Charities celebrates new office opening with blessing, ribbon cutting

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JACKSON – On Friday, May 5, Bishop Joseph Kopacz cut a Ribbon for and blessed the new Catholic Charities offices on East River Place in Jackson. The staff has been in the facility since January, getting settled and getting programs up and running. The new space is larger and has much better parking than the old headquarters downtown. 

Bishop blessed the new building

Program seeks to connect students, campus ministry

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By Abbey Schuhmann
For the past several years the Diocese of Jackson has partnered with the Newman Connection in an effort to help connect our high school seniors with a Catholic campus ministry program at their chosen college, university, or community college. The Newman Connection is a non-profit organization that provides structure and support to dioceses, parishes, Catholic high schools and Catholic campus ministry programs across the nation free of charge.
Newman Connection is focused on strengthening today’s Catholic young adults in the faith during their college years; they work with nearly 50 dioceses to help connect as many young people as possible. This program fits in very well with our renewed diocesan mission and vision and supports the priority to facilitate life-long formation of intentional disciples.
How to get connected? High school seniors at our parishes and Catholic high schools will be asked to fill out a brief information card from Newman Connection that includes their name and school they plan to attend in the fall; that card is then collected by the parish or high school and mailed back to Newman Connection. This program is completely free for participating parishes and schools and what a great way to help keep our young people engaged with their Catholic faith as they begin this new adventure into college life.
A senior Mass, banquet, or Baccalaureate are great opportunities to have your students fill out the information cards. The Newman Connection enters the information into their database that will then reach Catholic campus ministers at more than 400 campuses around the United States. Catholic campus ministers will then know who the incoming freshman are, what diocese they are from and can reach out to them and encourage them to get involved in the Catholic campus ministry program.
The staggering fact is that “80 percent of students stop practicing their faith at some point during college, while only 15 percent look for a campus ministry on their own.”
But together, we can change this. Let us get connected and stay connected. Newman Connection packets have been sent to all parishes and Catholic high schools in our diocese and information cards should be available. You may also go on the Newman Connection website, www.newmanconnection.com and “connect” individually or to find out more about the Newman Connection program and other resources available.
Please contact Abbey Schuhmann in the Office of Youth Ministry if you have any questions about the implementation of the enrollment process with Newman Connection. Abbey.Schuhmann@jacksondiocese.org or 601-949-6934
(Abbey Schuhmann is the coordinator for youth ministry for the Diocese of Jackson.)

Bishop Kopacz makes pilgrimage to Saltillo

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By Monsignor Michael Flannery

MADISON – There is a Spanish phrase “que pasa?” (what’s happening?). In a way, it sums up the pastoral visit Bishop Joseph Kopacz and I made to the Saltillo Mission March 30 -April 3.

We can report that the good work begun by Father Patrick Quinn in 1969 is flourishing south of the border. There are two Mexican priests serving at the mission, Fathers David and Elevio. Both have a profound missionary spirit and they follow in the footsteps of Father Quinn.

We flew into Monterrey, Mexico, on Thursday, March 30. Father David was there to greet us and bring us to the mission about two hours away. He had a full schedule prepared for us. Our first visit was to the church of Cristo Rey (in the city of Saltillo) at 6:00 p.m. It is one of four churches in town served by San Miguel. The other three are; the Holy Martyrs, St. William and Christ the King. We visited other churches in the city the next day.

Saturday we set out for the village Jalapa where the villagers gathered to greet the Bishop from Mississippi. After a prayer service with the rancheros and the distribution of bags of cornmeal we set out for the village of Animas where we shared another meal with the villagers. At 2:00 p.m. we were on the road again to our most distant village of El Tapon, five hours away. There we greeted the people and Bishop Kopacz was asked to bless the seeds of corn and pinto beans to be used for sowing. Also, he was asked to bless the two goat herds. Many coyotes attack and kill the young kid goats and the blessing of the bishop was to provide protection.

After the blessing, Bishop Kopacz was offered a kid goat as a gift. I explained to the kind lady making the offer we would only be in the country five days and were forbidden to bring a goat back with us to the U.S. Instead she offered Bishop Kopacz a package of tortillas which he graciously accepted.

The next morning we went to the village of Garambullo, where we were greeted by a presentation of Aztec dancing before Mass. Father David showed us the new tin roof he had put on the church. Many of the churches in the mountain villages are in bad need of repair. An average roof on a mountain village church costs about $3,000. I had brought a suitcase full of T-shirts, a gift from Madison St. Anthony School. It was amazing to see the joy in these childrens faces as they received them. I also had brought with me 500 ball-point pens which I selectively distributed to other children telling them the pen was a gift of Bishop Kopacz.

When we arrived at La Ventura about 500 villagers were completing a live way of the cross. It was a very moving site. Because of their Mexican heritage and culture, the people relate very well to the suffering Christ. Bishop Kopacz was again front and center celebrating Mass and administering the sacrament of Confirmation.

After Mass, we had a delicious lunch with the villagers. Father David showed Bishop Kopacz a building attached to the church, consisting of two rooms, where it would be possible to house catechists who spend weekends training village catechists and performing missions throughout the year. He had plans to add another floor to the existing two rooms as La Ventura was a central village from where 6 other villages could be served.

It was now time to head back to Saltillo for dinner with the Bishop of Saltillo Don Raul Vera. Bishop Vera was very gracious and Bishop Kopacz shared with him his Pastoral Priorities and Vision for the Diocese of Jackson. The following morning, we shared a light breakfast with Father David and Father Evelio. Both priests are great visionaries and are addressing the needs of the people. Another example of their thinking outside the box, is a project now in its infancy.

San Miguel has become home to four students coming from mountain villages who cannot afford room and board while studying at the university. In exchange for room and board they accompany the priests during the weekend in their ministry in the ranchos. This project costs approximately $2,500 per student, however, that is where the church needs to be offering its services to those in need and changing the lives of people for the better.

Another worthy program at San Miguel is the catechetical program. Young catechists are brought in from remote villages to stay at San Miguel for a week or two during the summer. The rancheros are very moved by this experience. For the first time in their lives they have meals served to them by someone else. Also, they have the experience of taking a shower. That is not an option in the ranchos. It is a different world there at San Miguel.

I would like to end with one quick story. There was one four-year-old girl in Saltillo who got my last St. Anthony T-shirt. She was so excited with her new found treasure she would not take it off. The T-shirt would have fit a child of 12. It was so long it came down to her ankles. Her mother told me later that she would not take it off even to go to bed and she used it as her night gown. I also gave her the St. Anthony golf cap I was wearing. She even wore it to bed she was so overcome with joy with her gift. I can assure you that the people of Saltillo are most appreciative of all that Mississippians do for them and they wanted us to express their gratitude to you.

(Editor’s note: Msgr. Flannery is working on a book detailing the history of the Saltillo mission. a longer version of this story with details of all the rancho visits is available online at www.mississippicatholic.com)

Saltillo, Mexico 2017

Saltillo, Mexico 2017

Saltillo, Mexico 2017

Saltillo, Mexico 2017

Saltillo, Mexico 2017

Saltillo, Mexico 2017

Saltillo, Mexico 2017

Saltillo, Mexico 2017

Saltillo, Mexico 2017

Saltillo, Mexico 2017

Saltillo, Mexico 2017

Saltillo, Mexico 2017

Saltillo, Mexico 2017

Saltillo, Mexico 2017

Saltillo, Mexico 2017

Saltillo, Mexico 2017

Saltillo, Mexico 2017

Saltillo, Mexico 2017

Saltillo, Mexico 2017

Saltillo, Mexico 2017

Saltillo, Mexico 2017

Saltillo, Mexico 2017

Saltillo, Mexico 2017

Saltillo, Mexico 2017

Saltillo, Mexico 2017

Saltillo, Mexico 2017

Risen Christ calls all to follow him on path to life, pope says

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By Cindy Wooden and Junno Arocho Esteves

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Jesus is the risen shepherd who takes upon his shoulders “our brothers and sisters crushed by evil in all its varied forms,” Pope Francis said before giving his solemn Easter blessing.

With tens of thousands of people gathered in St. Peter’s Square April 16, the pope called on Christians to be instruments of Christ’s outreach to refugees and migrants, victims of war and exploitation, famine and loneliness.

For the 30th year in a row, Dutch farmers and florists blanketed the area around the altar with grass and 35,000 flowers and plants: lilies, roses, tulips, hyacinths, daffodils, birch and linden.

Preaching without a prepared text, Pope Francis began — as he did the night before at the Easter Vigil — imagining the disciples desolate because “the one they loved so much was executed. He died.”

While they are huddling in fear, the angel tells them, “He is risen.” And, the pope said, the church continues to proclaim that message always and everywhere, including to those whose lives are truly, unfairly difficult.

“It is the mystery of the cornerstone that was discarded, but has become the foundation of our existence,” he said. And those who follow Jesus, “we pebbles,” find meaning even in the midst of suffering because of sure hope in the resurrection.

Pope Francis suggested everyone find a quiet place on Easter to reflect on their problems and the problems of the world and then tell God, “I don’t know how this will end, but I know Christ has risen.”

Almost immediately after the homily, a brief but intense rain began to fall on the crowd, leading people to scramble to find umbrellas, jackets or plastic bags to keep themselves dry.

After celebrating the morning Easter Mass, Pope Francis gave his blessing “urbi et orbi,” to the city of Rome and the world.

Before reciting the blessing, he told the crowd that “in every age the risen shepherd tirelessly seeks us, his brothers and sisters, wandering in the deserts of this world. With the marks of the passion — the wounds of his merciful love — he draws us to follow him on his way, the way of life.”

Christ seeks out all those in need, he said. “He comes to meet them through our brothers and sisters who treat them with respect and kindness and help them to hear his voice, an unforgettable voice, a voice calling them back to friendship with God.”

Pope Francis mentioned a long list of those for whom the Lord gives special attention, including victims of human trafficking, abused children, victims of terrorism and people forced to flee their homes because of war, famine and poverty.

“In the complex and often dramatic situations of today’s world, may the risen Lord guide the steps of all those who work for justice and peace,” Pope Francis said. “May he grant the leaders of nations the courage they need to prevent the spread of conflicts and to put a halt to the arms trade.”

The pope also offered special prayers for peace in Syria, South Sudan, Somalia, Congo and Ukraine, and for a peaceful resolution of political tensions in Latin America.

The pope’s celebration of Easter got underway the night before in a packed St. Peter’s Basilica.

The Easter Vigil began with the lighting of the fire and Easter candle in the atrium of the basilica. Walking behind the Easter candle and carrying a candle of his own, Pope Francis entered the basilica in darkness.

The basilica was gently illuminated only by candlelight and the low light emanating from cellphones capturing the solemn procession.

The bells of St. Peter’s pealed in the night, the sound echoing through nearby Roman streets, announcing the joy of the Resurrection.

During the vigil, Pope Francis baptized 11 people: five women and six men from Spain, Czech Republic, Italy, the United States, Albania, Malta, Malaysia and China.

One by one, the catechumens approached the pope who asked them if they wished to receive baptism. After responding, “Yes, I do,” they lowered their heads as the pope poured water over their foreheads.

Among them was Ali Acacius Damavandy from the United States who smiled brightly as the baptismal waters streamed down his head.

In his homily, reflecting on the Easter account from the Gospel of St. Matthew, the pope recalled the women who went “with uncertain and weary steps” to Christ’s tomb.

The pope said the faces of those women, full of sorrow and despair, reflect the faces of mothers, grandmothers, children and young people who carry the “burden of injustice and brutality.”

The poor and the exploited, the lonely and the abandoned, and “immigrants deprived of country, house and family” suffer the heartbreak reflected on the faces of the women at the tomb who have seen “human dignity crucified,” he said.

However, the pope added, in the silence of death, Jesus’ heartbeat resounds and his resurrection comes as a gift and as “a transforming force” to a humanity broken by greed and war.

“In the Resurrection, Christ rolled back the stone of the tomb, but he wants also to break down all the walls that keep us locked in our sterile pessimism, in our carefully constructed ivory towers that isolate us from life, in our compulsive need for security and in boundless ambition that can make us compromise the dignity of others,” he said.

Pope Francis called on Christians to follow the example of the woman who, upon learning of Christ’s victory over death, ran to the city and proclaimed the good news in those places “where death seems the only way out.”

Presiding over the Stations of the Cross Good Friday, April 14, at Rome’s Colosseum, Pope Francis offered a prayer expressing both shame for the sins of humanity and hope in God’s mercy.

A crowd of about 20,000 people joined the pope at the Rome landmark. They had passed through two security checks and were watched over by a heavy police presence given recent terrorist attacks in Europe.

At the end of the service, Pope Francis recited a prayer to Jesus that he had composed. “Oh Christ, our only savior, we turn to you again this year with eyes lowered in shame and with hearts full of hope.”

The shame comes from all the “devastation, destruction and shipwrecks that have become normal in our lives,” he said, hours after some 2,000 migrants were rescued in the Mediterranean Sea. The shame comes from wars, discrimination and the failure to denounce injustice.

Turning to the sexual abuse crisis, Pope Francis expressed “shame for all the times we bishops, priests, consecrated men and women have scandalized and injured your body, the church.”

But the pope also prayed that Christians would be filled with the hope that comes from knowing that “you do not treat us according to our merits, but only according to the abundance of your mercy.”

Christian hope, he said, means trusting that Jesus’ cross can “transform our hardened hearts into hearts of flesh capable of dreaming, forgiving and loving.”

Pope Francis carries a candle as he arrives to celebrate the Easter Vigil in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican April 15. (CNS photo/Paul Haring) See POPE-EASTER-ROUNDUP April 16, 2017.