For people who are ordered to stay home: the pope asks the homeless for help

As national and local members issued residence orders at home or on-site refuge to curb the spread of coronavirus, Pope Francis asked people to pray and help the homeless.

He offered his morning mass on March 31 for homeless people "at a time when people are asked to stay home."

At the beginning of a mass streamed live from the chapel of his residence, the pope prayed that people become aware of all those who lack housing and accommodation and help them and that the church considers them "welcomed".

In his homily, the pope reflected on the first reading of the day and on the reading of the Gospel, which, together, he said, are an invitation to contemplate Jesus on the cross and understood how one is allowed to bear the sin of many and dare to life for the salvation of people.

The first reading of the Book of Numbers (21: 4-9) recalled how the people of God, who had been led out of Egypt, became impatient and disgusted by their difficult desert life. As punishment, God sent poisonous snakes that way and killed many of them.

Then the people recognized that they had sinned and pleaded with Moses to ask God to send the snakes away. God ordered Moses to make a bronze snake and put it on a pole so that those who had been bitten could look at it and live.

The story is a prophecy, said Pope Francis, because it predicts the coming of the Son of God, made sin - which is often represented as a snake - and nailed to a cross so that humanity can be saved.

“Moses makes a snake and lifts it up. Jesus will be resurrected, like the serpent, to offer salvation, "he said. What is key, he said, is to see how Jesus did not know about sin but was made to be sin so that people could reconcile with God.

“The truth that comes from God is that he came into the world to take our sins on himself until he became a sin. All sins Our sins are there, ”said the pope.

"We have to get used to looking at the crucifix in this light, which is the truest - it is the light of redemption," he said.

Looking at the crucifix, people can see "the total defeat of Christ. He doesn't pretend to die, he doesn't pretend to suffer, alone and abandoned, "he said.

While the readings are difficult to understand, the pope asked people to try to "contemplate, pray and thank".