Vatican
City, 31 March 2013
(VIS) – Yesterday at 8:30 in the evening, the Holy Father presided
at the Easter Vigil in St. Peter's Basilica. The liturgy began in the
church atrium with a blessing of the new fire and the preparation of
the Paschal candle. After processing to the altar with the lit candle
and the singing of the “Exsultet”, the celebration continued with
the Liturgy of the Word, the Baptismal Liturgy, and the Liturgy of
the Eucharist.
During
the Vigil, the Pope administered the sacraments of Christian
initiation (Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist) to four
catechumens: one from Italy, one from Albania, one from Russia, and
one from the United States. After the Gospel was read, the Holy
Father dedicated his homily to discussing the holy women who went to
the tomb and found it empty. “We are afraid of God's surprises! He
always surprises us!” Following is the full text of his homily:
“Dear
Brothers and Sisters,
In
the Gospel of this luminous night of the Easter Vigil, we are the
first to meet the women who went to Jesus' tomb with spices to anoint
his body (cf. Lk 24:1-3). They go to perform an act of compassion, of
affection, of love. It is a traditional gesture for a beloved person
who has died, just as we would do too. They had followed Jesus,
listened to him, felt themselves to be understood in their dignity,
and they had accompanied him to the end, on Calvary, an at the moment
he was taken down from the cross.”
“We
can imagine how they felt as they made their way to his tomb: a
certain sadness, sorrow because Jesus had left them and was dead, his
story was over. Now they would go back to their previous lives. But
the women continued to feel love and their love for Jesus compelled
them to go to his tomb. At this point, however, something completely
unexpected happens, something new, which upsets their hearts and
their plans and which will upset their whole lives: They see the
stone rolled away from the tomb. They draw near and they do not find
the Lord's body. It is a reality that leaves them perplexed,
doubtful, full of questions: 'What is happening?', What does this all
mean?' (cf. Lk 24:4).”
“Isn't
that also what happens to us when something truly new occurs in our
everyday lives? We stop, don't understand, don't know how to handle
it. New things often frighten us, even the newness that God brings
us, the newness that God asks of us. We are like the Apostles in the
Gospel: we often prefer to hold on to our sureties, to stop at the
tomb, to stop at just thinking about the departed one who, in the
end, lives only in our memory like great persons of the past. We're
afraid of God's surprises. Dear brothers and sisters, in our lives we
are afraid of God's surprises! He always surprises us! That is how
the Lord is!”
“Brothers
and sisters, let's not close ourselves to the newness that God wants
to bring to our lives! Often we are tired, disheartened, sad; We feel
the weight of our sins and think we're not going to make it. Let's
not get locked up in ourselves. Let's not lose our confidence. Let us
never give up. There are no situations that God cannot change; There
is no sin that He won't forgive if we open ourselves to him.”
“But
let's go back to the Gospel, to the women, and take a step forward.
They find the tomb empty. Jesus' body is not there. Something new has
happened but this still doesn't tell them anything certain. It raises
questions and leaves them perplexed without offering an answer. And
then, two men in dazzling garments who say: 'Why do you seek the
living one among the dead? He is not here, but He has been raised.'
(Lk 24:5-6). What had been a simple gesture, an act certainly
undertaken in love—going to the tomb—now transforms into an
occurrence, a truly life-changing event.”
“Nothing
remains as it was before, not only in the lives of those women, but
also in our lives and in our story of humanity. Jesus isn't someone
who has died. He is risen. He is the Living One! He has not simply
come back to life but is life itself because He is the Son of God who
is the Living God. Jesus is no longer in the past but lives in the
present and is projected toward the future. Jesus is God's eternal
'today'.This is how God's newness presents itself to the eyes of the
women, of the disciples, of all of us: victory over sin, over evil,
over death, over everything that oppresses our lives and gives them a
less human face.”
“This
is a message that is addressed to me, to you, dear sister, to you,
dear brother. How many times do we need Love to tell us: Why do you
seek the living one among the dead? Our problems and our everyday
worries tend to wrap us up in ourselves, in sadness and bitterness...
and that is where death lies. Let's not look there for He who is
alive!”
“Accept
the Risen Jesus into your life, then. Welcome him as a friend, with
confidence. He is life! If up to now you have been distant from him,
take a small step: He will welcome you with open arms. If you are
indifferent, take the risk: You will not be disappointed. If
following him seems difficult to you, don't be afraid: entrust
yourself to him and rest assured that He is close to you. He is with
you and will give you the peace you are seeking and the strength to
live as He wants you to.”
“There
is one last, simple element that I would like to emphasize in the
Gospel of this luminous Easter Vigil. The women encounter the newness
of God. Jesus is risen, He is the Living One. But, faced with the
empty tomb and the two men in dazzling garments, their first reaction
is one of fear: They 'bowed their faces to the ground', St. Luke
notes. They didn't even have the courage to look. But, when they hear
the announcement of the Resurrection, they accept it with faith. And
the two men in dazzling garments introduce a fundamental word:
remember. 'Remember what He said to you while He was still in Galilee
… And they remembered his words.' (Lk 24:6,8).”
“This
is a call to remember their encounter with Jesus, with his words, his
deeds, his life. It is precisely this loving remembrance of their
experience with the Master that leads the women to overcome every
fear and to take the announcement of the Resurrection to the Apostles
and to all the others (cf. Lk 24:9). Remembering what God has done
and continues to do for me, for us; remembering the path we have
travelled—this opens wide our hearts to hope for the future. Let's
learn to remember what God has done in our lives!”
“On
this radiant night, calling upon the intercession of the Virgin Mary
who keeps all things in her heart (Lk 2:19,51), let us ask the Lord
to give us a share in his Resurrection. May He open us to the newness
that transforms, to God's surprises that are so beautiful. May He
make us men and women who are capable of remembering what He does in
our personal lives and in the history of the world. May He make us
capable of hearing him as the Living One, who lives and is at work
amongst us. May He teach us every day, dear brothers and sisters, to
not seek among the dead for He who is living. Amen.”
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