I do not want to speak for very long today because, as we did last Sunday and every day this week, we will be distributing Holy Communion after the Holy Mass to all the faithful who are following this celebration via the internet and will come to the parish directly following the celebration to receive.

Everything is all so strange in these days that we no longer know whether or not we should rejoice at the gradual steps that are taking us back toward normality. The present situation is very difficult to read, and our bewilderment usually gives way to discouragement. For this reason at Mass today, I want to focus on Jesus’ opening words in the Gospel that we just heard: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God: have faith also in me.”

Faith in Christ is the only star in this night sky. He comes to us today, in his Word and in his surrendered Body, to tell us: "Do not let your hearts be troubled." Among so many voices, so much noise, in the face of difficult decisions, wrapped in temptations of all kinds, in the midst of the storm that has been unleashed on the children of the Church, a voice, a Person, a few simple words open the way: “Do not let your heart be troubled. Have faith in me."

 The Gospel today and what is happening now in the world remind me of a comment that an extraordinary priest I met in Spain, Father José Manuel Carranza, used to repeat. Having lived both inside and outside of the Church, he died at the age of 95, with the wisdom of the years and in daily fidelity to the Lord. He would say over and over again, with his mischievous gaze, and a smile and eyebrows raised, "Son, I have faith only in our Lord Jesus Christ”

We will live in the peace of God if we put all our faith in the Lord Jesus, the cornerstone, as St. Peter tells us in the second reading, which remains immovable in the midst of the fiercest storms. He is our refuge, our shield, our way, our truth, and our life. Other men, even the best, are only ... men: limited, fragile, fearful, dependent, out of touch, ephemeral, and fleeting. They disappoint us as we have so often disappointed people who loved us. They fail us as we have failed so many throughout our lives. Christ, however, neither fails nor disappoints. He is always faithful (2 Tm 2:13), He always has something new to offer us (Jn 1:39), He is always light (Jn 8:12) and He is always by our side. (Mt 28:20)

So I turn to the risen Lord this morning to ask that our faith in Him be the only star to guide our steps. And I add a second request: Jesus, send your Holy Spirit. This year we need Him more than ever because if you are the way to the Father, your Spirit is the way for us to unite with you. He, who is “a cooling breeze in the heat of the day, a joy that wipes away tears and comforts in sorrow”; He who "waters the earth in drought, heals the sick heart and infuses the warmth of life in the cold", gives us grace so that our hearts are not troubled in the trial, but by faith and trust in you serve to unite us more to the Will of the Father, and so find joy, and peace and eternal life.