Preparación de la Misa del Domingo de la Misericordia Divina. Preparing Mass on the 2nd Sunday of Easter (Low Sunday): Divine Mercy. Note the very small, plain wooden altar, and the Easter Candle at the far left (next to the lecturn). Vorbereitung der Messe am Sonntag der Göttlichen Barmherzigkeit; alles ist sehr schlicht.
Antes de la Misa. La cruz es la que se usó el Viernes Santo. More preparations before Mass this morning: Note the cross, which was also used on Good Friday. Vor der Messe; das Kreuz auf der rechten Seite ist auch am Karfreitag gebraucht worden.
El Cardenal Sodano durante la Misa; a la derecha, el Cardenal Ratzinger. Cardinal Sodano approaching the consecration at Holy Mass, on Divine Mercy Sunday (2nd Sunday of Easter). On his right is Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, until now prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith. Kardinal Sodano bei der Messe; rechts Kardinal Ratzinger.
Concelebraron muchos obispos. Dozens of Bishops process out of Holy Mass, around 12.15pm local time, dwarfed by the columns and doors of St Peter's. Dutzende von Bischöfen konzelebrierten.
Cientos de jovenes italianos y otros peregrinos en la Plaza San Pedro. Hundreds of thousands of young Italians and other visitors filled the piazza this morning. Hunderte von italienischen Jugendlichen und Pilger aus aller Welt füllen den Petersplatz. Fotos: Donnelly © 2005

ROME, Simon Donnelly. This morning we woke up and remembered that the Holy Father was dead. It is a numb thought. It makes no sense much of the time. How can we not have a pope? How can we not have THIS pope, the man who we have known is guiding the bride of Christ in his fatherly way every day of every year since 1978.

We hurtled down to Saint Peter’s again this morning: to celebrate the second Sunday of Easter, or Divine Mercy Sunday, a feast established by John Paul II himself. The square was quiet, but there were already thousands of people there two hours before Mass began. We bought the morning copy of Osservatore Romano, the very high-quality Vatican daily paper. The front page headline cried out: Oggi, sabato 2 aprile, alle ore 21.37 il Signore ha chiamato a Sé IL SANTO PADRE GIOVANNI PAOLO II (‘Today, Saturday 2 April, at 9.37pm, the Lord called to Himself the HOLY FATHER JOHN PAUL II’). And below the picture of him clinging to the cross in his room on Good Friday is written the following: Ci hai lasciati, Padre Santo. Ti sei consumato per noi. In quest’ora — per Te gloriosa, per noi dolente — ci sentiamo abbandonati. Ma Tu prendici per mano e guidaci con quella Tua Mano che in questi mesi si è fatta in Te anche parola. Grazie, Padre Santo. (‘You have left us, Holy Father*. You have been consumed for us. In this hour — for you a glorious one, for us a painful one — we feel abandoned. But you take us by the hand and guide us with your hand which in these (past) months has also been your word. Thank you, Holy Father’*).

 [*The phrase padre santo is the opposite word order from the usual santo padre. Although both phrases mean ‘holy father’, today’s phrase emphasises the holiness: ‘father who is holy’].

A very quiet Easter joy

Today’s Mass comes at the end of the octave of Easter, and was therefore celebrated with Easter joy — but very quiet joy — by Cardinal Sodano, and a few dozen bishops and priests. And yet, it was the saddest morning after the saddest night, and so all participants were wearing black, and everything for the sanctuary on the steps of St Peter’s was very understated: the altar was small and wooden; the only other signs were the Easter candle — the sign of our hope — the lecturn (ambo) for the word of God, and the celebrant’s chair.

Mass was in Italian, with sung parts in Latin. There were none of the usual Mass booklets so beautifully prepared by the Vatican Press. The readings from Acts and the first letter of Peter gave us hope. Then there was John’s Gospel about Thomas who didn’t believe until Christ appeared to him: ‘Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe’. These words refer today to our beloved Holy Father who did not see the Lord face to face, and yet believed. And he led us to stronger belief. Cardinal Sodano said in his homily: "The angel of the Lord passed through the Apostolic Palace last night [where John Paul lived], and whispered to the Holy Father to come home. No longer will we hear the voice from the third window on the top floor of the apostolic palace".

Every time the Cardinal mentioned the pope’s name we shed more tears. He was so recently among us! If we look up his quiet window, even now we think we may see him again. How can be gone? There must be a mistake.

Words from beyond the grave

And then, an amazing thing happened at the end of Holy Mass: around midday, the time of the Regina Caeli (which replaces the Angelus at Easter), Cardinal Sodano said: "And now, at the explicit wish of our beloved Holy Father John Paul II, I read you his own words prepared for the Angelus of today". We were hearing words from beyond the grave, as it were. It was the deceased Holy Father’s reflection on today’s readings!!

Risuona anche oggi il gioioso Alleluja della Pasqua. L’odierna pagina del Vangelo di Giovanni sottolinea che il Risorto, la sera di quel giorno, apparve agli Apostoli e "mostrò loro le mani e il costato" (Gv 20,20), cioè i segni della dolorosa passione impressi in modo indelebile sul suo corpo anche dopo la risurrezione.

[‘Even today, the joyous Alleluia of Easter resounds. Today’s Gospel passage of John underlines that the Resurrected One, on the evening of that day, appeared to the Apostles and ‘showed them his hands and his side’ (Jn 20:20), that is, the signs of his painful passion, still imprinted in an indelible way on his body even after the resurrection’].

We thought of the pope’s own body, after his own passion, also with the marks of his own physical suffering, now being prepared for veneration and the last respects of tens of thousands of Catholics who will come to see him in the next few days. This Holy Father, this Karol Wojtyla, he too will be raised up on the last day, as will all the children of the Lord who He wishes to take with Him into eternal life. It is a promise of great hope and great joy in the midst of the ‘shock to our soul’, as Cardinal Sodano said. "John Paul, our father and shepherd, has left us". But the Cardinal reminded us that the John Paul "always invited us to look to Christ, the only reason for our hope."

Our hearts yearn for God, for his comfort in these days

We heard the quiet, comforting, familiar voice of Cardinal Ratzinger concelebrating Holy Mass. Cardinal Sodano said he had himself stood at the bedside of the Holy Father, who suffered and died a serene and holy death. The cardinal addressed some beautiful words to the departed Holy Father, but, for many of us, they were lost in the midst of our grief.

The Vatican boys’ choir was there this morning, as always. After communion, they sang Palestrina’s quiet, exquisite setting of Psalm 42 Sicut Cervus: "As the deer yearns for running streams, so my heart is yearning for you, my God". Our hearts yearn for God, for his comfort in these days. And as John Paul’s heart has yearned for him, so he has found him now. May he be united in the fields of eternity with the Lord and Shepherd he served on earth.

The bishops seemed like sheep without a shepherd to me: there is now no bishop in the chair of Peter (sede vacante), which means there is also no bishop in the chair of Rome. Both the urbs (the city) and the orbis (the world) have lost their leader. Then, at the end, the Cardinal blessed us, and we were left to our thoughts and prayers and memories. In the pope’s own words at the beginning of his pontificate (quoted by Monsignor Angelo Comastri as we prayed in the vigil on Friday night): Signore, spalancate le porte...: "Lord, thrown open the doors of heaven to welcome your servant into eternal life".

We passed under his silent window, and walked home, our hearts full of grief tinged with Easter joy.

Fotos