A message of hope in a difficult time, in dark times. Pope francesco celebrated this evening there Easter Vigil in Basilica of Saint Peter and in the most solemn liturgy of the year he called everyone to trust in rebirth. In a Mass still limited by the restrictions of the pandemic, Bergoglio said: “Here is the first Easter announcement that I would like to deliver to you: it is possible to always start over, because there is a new life that God is capable of restarting in us beyond all our failures. Even from the rubble of our heart God can build a work of art, even from the ruinous fragments of our humanity God prepares a new history “.
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Yesterday, during the Via Crucis, the pope had invoked the Lord to give the faithful “the strength to get up again when we no longer even have the desire to do so” and to increase in us “the certainty that, in tiredness and despair, we can always start over to walk … “Officiated at the Altar of the Chair, in front of a small assembly of faithful, and brought forward at 7.30 pm to allow participants to respect the curfew, the ceremony celebrating the Resurrection of Christ omitted the preparation of the Candle this year Baptisms do not take place, but only the renewal of the baptismal promises, preceded by the blessing of the lustral water.
The theme of the pandemic and the difficulties that everyone experiences was at the center of Bergoglio’s words: “In these dark months of pandemic we hear the Risen Lord who invites us to start over, never to lose hope – said the Pontiff in his homily – Jesus always precedes us: in the cross of suffering, desolation and death, as well as in the glory of a life that is reborn, of a history that changes, of a hope that is reborn “.
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Therefore, further clarifying the Gospel meaning of “going to Galilee”, where “the Risen Lord precedes us”, the Pope affirmed that in addition to the meaning of “starting over” there is also that of “following new paths”. “Here is the second Easter announcement – he continued -: faith is not a repertoire of the past, Jesus is not an outdated character. He is alive, here and now. He walks with you every day, in the situation you are experiencing, in the trial that you are going through, in the dreams you carry inside “. “It opens up new paths where it seems to you that there are none, it pushes you to go against the tide of regret and the ‘already seen’ – underlined Bergoglio -. Even if everything seems lost, open up with amazement to its novelty: it will surprise you”.
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For the Pontiff, “many live the ‘faith of memories’, as if Jesus were a personage of the past, a friend of his youth now far away, a fact that happened a long time ago, when I attended catechism as a child. A faith made of habits, of things from the past, of good childhood memories, which no longer touches me, no longer questions me “. “Going to Galilee”, on the other hand, “means learning that faith, to be alive, must get back on the road”. Third meaning, moreover, that of “going to the borders”. In Galilee, the Pope reflected, “we learn that we can find the Risen One in the faces of our brothers, in the enthusiasm of those who dream and in the resignation of those who are discouraged, in the smiles of those who rejoice and in the tears of those who suffer, especially in the poor and in those who are marginalized “.
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Finally the exhortation to look to the future: “We will be amazed at how God’s greatness is revealed in littleness, how his beauty shines in the simple and the poor”, observed the Pope: “Jesus, the Risen One, loves us without borders and visits each of our life situations. He has planted his presence in the heart of the world and invites us too to overcome barriers, overcome prejudices, approach those around us every day, to rediscover the grace of everyday life “.
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“Let’s recognize him present in our Galilee, in everyday life – he concluded -. With him, life will change. Because beyond all defeats, evil and violence, beyond all suffering and death, the Risen One lives and leads history”. Not only that: “with him, life always begins again”. The Easter cycle of celebrations presided over by the Pope closes tomorrow with the morning mass in St. Peter’s and, at the end, the ‘Urbi et Orbi’ blessing.
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