Vatican City: During his Wednesday General Audience in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Leo XIV offered a moving reflection on the boundless mercy and healing power of Jesus Christ, urging the faithful to turn to Him in times of despair, illness, and spiritual crisis. "Let us go to Jesus He can heal us, He can raise us up. He is our hope!" the Pope proclaimed.
Continuing his catechesis series on the Jubilee theme “Christ, Our Hope,” the Holy Father drew from two powerful Gospel narratives in the Book of Mark, which illustrate how unshakable faith in Christ can bring both physical and spiritual transformation even in the darkest moments.
The first Gospel account recalled by Pope Leo involves a woman suffering for twelve years from a debilitating condition that rendered her ritually unclean and socially isolated. Despite being pushed to the margins, she believed that even touching Jesus’ garment could restore her. Acting on that faith, she reached out in the midst of a crowd and was immediately healed. “Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace,” Jesus tells her.
In the second episode, a desperate father pleads with Jesus after receiving word that his young daughter has died. Undeterred, Jesus responds: “Do not be afraid; only have faith.” He enters the house, finds the mourners weeping, and declares, “The child is not dead but sleeping.” He then takes the child’s hand and brings her back to life.
“These two miracles,” Pope Leo emphasized, “reveal something essential: nothing is impossible for God when we approach Him with a heart full of faith.”
The Pope reminded the audience that the Lord does not only heal the body He awakens the soul. “For God, who is Eternal Life, even physical death is like sleep. What we should truly fear is the death of the soul,” the Holy Father warned. “It is sin, spiritual emptiness, and disconnection from God that truly destroy us from within.”
He reflected on Jesus’ gesture after raising the girl telling her parents to give her something to eat. “This small detail shows Christ’s deep care for our human needs. But it also invites us to ask: when our children face spiritual hunger, do we know how to nourish them with God’s Word? And how can we do that, if we ourselves are not fed by the Gospel?”
Pope Leo pointed out that grace often acts in hidden, quiet ways within our lives. “Even when we do not see it, the Lord is transforming us from the inside. Slowly, silently, grace is at work,” he said.
But the Pope also offered a sobering reflection. “Too often, we approach Jesus superficially,” he lamented. “We may walk into churches, stand before altars, but our hearts remain distant. We forget that we are in the presence of the One who can make us whole.”
The Holy Father called on believers not to settle for surface-level faith but to embrace a living trust in Christ. “Like the woman who suffered silently, and the father who refused to give up, let us cling to Jesus with unwavering faith. He alone can renew us.”
As he concluded, Pope Leo encouraged the faithful to face life's trials with courage, anchored in the hope Christ offers. “When disappointment, suffering, or even death comes, remember go to Jesus. He will not turn you away. He will make you new.”