Easter

Easter: see, hear and proclaim without fear

First, see

They saw the stone rolled away and when they entered they did not find the body of the Lord. Their first reaction was fear, not looking up from the ground. Something like this, he observes the Pope, it happens to us: "Too often, we look at life and reality without lifting our eyes off the ground.We only focus on today, we feel disappointment for the future and we close ourselves in our needs, we settle in the prison of apathy, while we continue lamenting and thinking that things will never change. And so we bury the joy of living.

Then, listen to

Bearing in mind that the Lord "is not here". Perhaps we look for him "in our words, in our formulas and in our customs, but we forget to look for it in the darkest corners of life.where there is someone who cries, who struggles, suffers and hopes". We must raise our eyes and open ourselves to hope..

Let's hear it: "Why do you seek the living among the dead? We must not look for God, Francis interprets, among dead things: in our lack of courage to let ourselves be forgiven by God, to change and end the works of evil, to decide for Jesus and his love; in reducing faith to an amulet, "making God a beautiful memory of past times, instead of discovering him as the living God who today wants to transform us and the world"; in "a Christianity who seeks the Lord among the vestiges of the past and locks him in the tomb of custom".

And finally, to announce

They announce the joy of the ResurrectionThe light of the Resurrection does not want to keep women in the ecstasy of a personal joy, it does not tolerate sedentary attitudes, but generates missionary disciples who "return from the tomb" and bring to all the Gospel of the Risen One.

After having seen and heard, the women ran to announce the joy of the Resurrection to the disciples, even though they knew that they would be taken for fools. But they were not concerned about their reputation or defending their image; they did not measure their feelings or calculate their words. They only had the fire in their hearts to bring the news, the announcement: "The Lord is risen!

Easter Message: Do not be afraid

We too, the successor of Peter points out, we are invited to run along the roads of the world, without fear or opportunism, to share the joy of having encountered the Lord.beyond certain formalities where we have often enclosed it, beyond comfort and well-being.

This is the Pope's Easter messageat the end of a Lent that does not seem to want to end", between the end of the pandemic and the war (he will say the next day in the blessing urbi et orbi): "Let us bring it to ordinary life: with gestures of peace in this time marked by the horrors of war; with works of reconciliation in broken relationships and compassion towards those in need; with actions of justice in the midst of inequalities and of truth in the midst of lies. And, above all, with works of love and fraternity.".

Jesus brings us peace by carrying "our wounds". Ours because we have inflicted them on Him and because He bears them for us. "The wounds on the Body of the Risen Jesus are the sign of the struggle that He has fought and won for us, with the weapons of love, so that we can have peace, be at peace, live in peace" (Blessing urbi et orbi, Resurrection Sunday, April 17, 2022).

With the victory of Christ and with his peace, Francis will say on Easter Monday, we will be able to "come out of the tombs of our fears" (the fear of death, of fading away, of losing our loved ones, of falling ill, of not being able to go on...) (Regina Caeli, 18-IV-2022).

Also we, like the disciples on Easter morning, have every day sufficient reasons to believeJesus says to you, "I have tasted death for you, I have borne your evil. Now I have risen to tell you: I am here, with you, forever. Do not be afraid! Do not be afraid" (Ibid.).