Vatican City, 19 April 2014 (VIS) –
The solemn Easter Vigil began at 8.30 this evening in St. Peter's
Basilica. Pope Francis presided over the rites, which began with the
blessing of the with a blessing of the new fire in the church atrium
followed by the procession to the altar with the lit Paschal candle,
the singing of the “Exsultet” and the Liturgy of the Word. During
the ceremony, the Holy Father administered the sacraments of
Christian initiation (Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist) to ten
catechumens from Italy, Belarus, Senegal, Lebanon, France and
Vietnam.
The full text of his homily is
published below:
“The Gospel of the resurrection of
Jesus Christ begins with the journey of the women to the tomb at dawn
on the day after the Sabbath. They go to the tomb to honour the body
of the Lord, but they find it open and empty. A mighty angel says to
them: 'Do not be afraid!' and orders them to go and tell the
disciples: 'He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going
ahead of you to Galilee'. The women quickly depart and on the way
Jesus himself meets them and says: 'Do not fear; go and tell my
brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me'. 'Do not be
afraid', 'do not fear': these are words that encourage us to open our
hearts to receive the message.
After the death of the Master, the
disciples had scattered; their faith had been utterly shaken,
everything seemed over, all their certainties had crumbled and their
hopes had died. But now that message of the women, incredible as it
was, came to them like a ray of light in the darkness. The news
spread: Jesus is risen as he said. And then there was his command to
go to Galilee; the women had heard it twice, first from the angel and
then from Jesus himself: 'Let them go to Galilee; there they will see
me'. 'Do not fear' and 'go to Galilee'.
Galilee is the place where they were
first called, where everything began! To return there, to return to
the place where they were originally called. Jesus had walked along
the shores of the lake as the fishermen were casting their nets. He
had called them, and they left everything and followed him.
To return to Galilee means to re-read
everything on the basis of the cross and its victory, fearlessly: 'do
not be afraid'. To re-read everything – Jesus’ preaching, his
miracles, the new community, the excitement and the defections, even
the betrayal – to re-read everything starting from the end, which
is a new beginning, from this supreme act of love.
For each of us, too, there is a
'Galilee' at the origin of our journey with Jesus. 'To go to Galilee'
means something beautiful, it means rediscovering our baptism as a
living fountainhead, drawing new energy from the sources of our faith
and our Christian experience. To return to Galilee means above all to
return to that blazing light with which God’s grace touched me at
the start of the journey. From that flame I can light a fire for
today and every day, and bring heat and light to my brothers and
sisters. That flame ignites a humble joy, a joy which sorrow and
distress cannot dismay, a good, gentle joy.
In the life of every Christian, after
baptism there is also another 'Galilee', a more existential
'Galilee': the experience of a personal encounter with Jesus Christ
who called me to follow him and to share in his mission. In this
sense, returning to Galilee means treasuring in my heart the living
memory of that call, when Jesus passed my way, gazed at me with mercy
and asked me to follow him. To return there means reviving the memory
of that moment when his eyes met mine, the moment when he made me
realise that he loved me.
Today, tonight, each of us can ask:
What is my Galilee? I need to remind myself, to go back and remember.
Where is my Galilee? Do I remember it? Have I forgotten it? Seek and
you will find it! There the Lord is waiting for you. Have I gone off
on roads and paths which made me forget it? Lord, help me: tell me
what my Galilee is; for you know that I want to return there to
encounter you and to let myself be embraced by your mercy. Do not be
afraid, do not fear, return to Galilee!
The Gospel is very clear: we need to go
back there, to see Jesus risen, and to become witnesses of his
resurrection. This is not to go back in time; it is not a kind of
nostalgia. It is returning to our first love, in order to receive the
fire which Jesus has kindled in the world and to bring that fire to
all people, to the very ends of the earth. Go back to Galilee,
without fear!
'Galilee of the Gentiles'! Horizon of
the Risen Lord, horizon of the Church; intense desire of encounter…
Let us be on our way!”.
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