The road to Easter "Christ is risen. Today we proclaim that He, the Lord of our life, is the Resurrection and the Life of the world. It is Easter, which means passage. For in Jesus the definitive passage of humanity from death to life, from sin to grace, from fear to trust, from desolation to communion was accomplished. He is the Lord of time and history. I would like to say to all of you with joy in my heart, Happy Easter".
These were the first words of Pope Francis in his Easter Message from the main balcony of the Basilica to the faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square, more than fifty thousand on a day of blue skies, and to the world that followed him through the media and social networks. In them he asked, first of all, for "the sick and the poor, the elderly, those who are going through moments of trial and difficulty, a passage from tribulation to consolation: we are not alone. Jesus, the Living One, is with us forever".
"Let the Church and the world rejoice, because today our hope no longer crashes against the wall of death, the Lord has opened for us a bridge to life. At Easter, the destiny of the world changed," Pope Francis stressed. "And today, which also coincides with the most likely date of Christ's resurrection, we can rejoice in celebrating, by pure grace, the most important and beautiful day in history."
"Christ is truly risen, as is proclaimed in the Churches of the East," the Successor of Peter noted. "Hope is not an illusion, it is true, and starting from Easter the path of humanity, marked by hope, moves swiftly forward."
The Holy Father then fixed his gaze "on the first witnesses of the resurrection. The Gospels describe the haste with which, on Easter Day, the women ran to tell the disciples the news. And after Mary Magdalene ran to meet Simon Peter, John and Peter himself ran together to reach the place where Jesus had been buried. And then, on Easter evening, having met the Risen One on the road to Emmaus, the two disciples set out without delay and hurried many miles uphill and in the dark, moved by the irrepressible joy of Easter, which burned in their hearts".
Peace and human rights
At Easter, said the Pope, "walking speeds up and becomes a race, because humanity sees the goal of its journey, sees the meaning of its destiny, Jesus Christ, and is called to go in haste towards Him, the hope of the world".
In this sense, Francis encouraged us to create a path of "mutual trust between individuals, peoples and nations", Let us allow ourselves to be surprised by the joyful announcement of Easter. Let us hasten to overcome conflicts and divisions, and open our hearts to those who need it most. Let us hasten to walk the paths of peace and fraternity. Let us rejoice in the concrete signs of hope that come to us from so many countries, beginning with those who offer assistance and welcome to those fleeing war and poverty".
"But along the way there are still many stones," he added, so he asked the Risen One to "help us to open our hearts. And he asked for help for the beloved people of Ukraine on the road to peace, and instills the Easter light on the Russian people," he said.
"Comfort the wounded and those who have lost loved ones to war. Open the hearts of the international community to strive to put an end to this war and all the conflicts that bloody the world, beginning with Syria."
He went on to mention the violent earthquake of Turkey and of the same Syria; Jerusalemfor the restoration of mutual trust, Israeli-Palestinian dialogue and peace; the stability of Lebanon; Tunisia; Haiti; the peace processes in Ethiopia and South Sudan; and the cessation of violence in Democratic Republic of the CongoHe called for "consolation for the victims of international terrorism," especially in Burkina Faso, Mali, Mozambique and Nigeria; peace in Myanmar; refugees, deportees, political prisoners and migrants, especially the most vulnerable; and "all those who suffer from hunger, poverty, drug trafficking, human trafficking and all forms of slavery.
"May no man or woman be discriminated against and trampled upon in their dignity, and in full respect for human rights and democracy, may those social wounds be healed, may the common good of citizens be sought only and always, and the necessary conditions for dialogue and peaceful coexistence be created," he said in his Easter Message.
Finally, before giving the Urbi et Orbi Blessing (to the city of Rome and to the world), he asked the "Lord of Life" to "encourage us in our journey, and repeat to us also, as you did to the disciples on Easter evening, peace be with you": this he repeated on three occasions.
"Back to Galilee, to the first love".
In the evening of Holy Saturday, the Pope presided over the solemn Easter Vigil. In his homily, the Holy Father invited us to return to our first encounter with the Lord, to our "first love," to the moment when "our love story with Jesus began, where our first call was," to "remember where and when your Galilee was, and walk towards your Galilee. It is the 'place' where you met Jesus in person, where for you He did not remain a historical figure like others, but became the person of life: not a distant God, but the God who is near, who knows you more than anyone else and loves you more than anyone else".
"Brother, sister, remember Galilee, your Galilee: your call, that Word of God that spoke to you at a precise moment," the Pope added; remember "that powerful experience in the Spirit, the greatest joy of forgiveness experienced after that Confession, that intense and unforgettable moment of prayer, that light that was kindled within you and transformed your life, that encounter, that pilgrimage...".
"This, then, is what the Lord's Passover does," he added: "it impels us to move forward, to come out of the sense of defeat, to roll away the tombstone in which we often enclose hope, to look with confidence to the future, because Christ is risen and has changed the course of history; but for this the Lord's Passover takes us to our past of grace, it makes us return to Galilee, where our story of love with Jesus began, where the first call was."
"Each one of us knows where his Galilee is, each one of us knows our own place of inner resurrection, the initial, the foundational, the one that changed things. We cannot leave it in the past, the Risen One invites us to go there to make Easter. Remember your Galilee, remember it, relive it today. Go back to that first encounter", Pope Francis invited.
