VATICAN - The Pope on Palm Sunday: “Together with the young people of the whole world let us go to meet Jesus. Let us allow him to guide us to God, to learn from God himself how to be men... that we too become with him and beginning from him messengers of his peace”

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - The Holy Father Benedict XVI presided the liturgical celebration of Palm Sunday and the Lord’s Passion held in Saint Peter’s Square on March 16. Following the blessing of the palms and the placing of the olive branches at the foot of the obelisk, there was a procession into the Basilica, where the Pope celebrated Mass. Crowds of young people from Rome and from other diocese of the globe took part in the celebration, with the occasion of the 23rd World Youth Day for the diocese.
“During the entry into Jerusalem the people pay homage to Jesus as the Son of David,” the Pope said in his homily, “Then he arrives at the temple. But there, where there should be the space of the meeting between God and man, he finds people selling animals and money changers who use the place of prayer for their business... The merchants were acting in a correct way according to the order that was in force, but the order itself was corrupt... Against the badly interpreted order Jesus, with his prophetic gesture, defends the true order of things that is found in the Law and the Prophets.”
The Holy Father continued, “As Christians, all of this must make us think today: Is our faith pure and open enough that, beginning from it, the ‘pagans’ -- the persons today who are seeking and have their questions -- can also intuit the light of the one God, can associate themselves with our prayer in the atriums of faith and by their seeking perhaps become worshippers? Does the awareness that greed is idolatry also reach our heart and our life practices? Do we not perhaps also allow idols to enter even into the world of our faith? Are we disposed to let the Lord purify us again and again, allowing him to chase out of us and the Church what is contrary to him?”
The purification of the temple, however, is much more than the struggle against abuses; it marks a “new moment in history,” Benedict XVI explained. “The body of Christ, Christ himself, enters to take the place of the bloody sacrifices and the food offerings. Only the ‘love to the end,’ only the love for men for which he gives himself totally to God, this is the true worship, the true sacrifice. Worshipping in spirit and truth means worshiping in communion with him who is truth; worshipping in the communion of his body, in which the Holy Spirit unites us.”
Commenting on the words of Jesus in the purification of the temple, as articulated in John’s Gospel - “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it back up” (John 2:18 f.) - the Pope said, “It is not Jesus who destroys the temple; it is left to destruction by the attitude of those who transformed the place of meeting of all peoples with God into a "den of thieves," a place of business.
But, as always from the fall of Adam, the failure of men becomes an occasion for a still greater commitment on the part of God's love in regard to us. The hour of the temple of stone, the hour of the animal sacrifices had been left behind: The fact that Jesus now chases out the merchants does not only impede abuse, but indicates the new action of God. The new temple is formed: Jesus Christ himself, in whom God's love comes down to men. He, in his life, is the new and living temple. He, who passed through the cross and is risen, is the living space of spirit and life in which the right worship is realized. Thus, the purification of the temple, as the culmination of Jesus' solemn entry into Jerusalem is the sign both of the incumbent destruction of the building and the promise of the new temple; the promise of the kingdom of reconciliation and love that, in the communion with Christ, is established beyond every frontier.”
The Pope later spoke of the importance of two other events following the purification of the temple: Jesus’ healing of the blind and lame and the homage He receives from the children of the temple, as well as in His entrance into the city. “To the trafficking of animals and the money exchange, Jesus opposes his goodness that makes well again. It is the true purification of the temple. He does not come as a destroyer; he does not come with the sword of the revolutionary. He comes with the gift of healing. He dedicates himself to those who because of their infirmities have been pushed to the end of their life and to the margins of society. Jesus reveals God as he who loves, and his power as the power of love. And thus he says to us what will always be a part of the true worship of God: healing, serving, the goodness that makes well again. And then there are the children who pay homage to Jesus... To meet God it is necessary to become capable of seeing with the heart. We must learn to see with a young heart that is not hindered by prejudices and blinded by interests. Thus, in the little ones who with a similar free and open heart recognize him, the Church has seen the image of the believers of every century, her own image.”
Concluding the homily, the Holy Father offered an exhortation to the youth saying, “Dear friends, in this hour we associate ourselves with the procession of the young people of that time -- a procession that passes through the whole of history. Together with the young people of the whole world let us go to meet Jesus. Let us allow him to guide us to God, to learn from God himself how to be men. With him we thank God, because with Jesus, the Son of David, he has given us a place of peace and reconciliation that embraces the whole world. Let us pray to him that we too become with him and beginning from him messengers of his peace, so that in us and around us his kingdom will grow. Amen.” (SL) (Agenzia Fides 17/3/2008; righe 71, parole 1028)