Vatican City, April 2014 (VIS) –
“Why do you seek the living one among the dead?”. With this
question Pope Francis began his first catechesis following Holy Week,
on the feast of St. George, the Holy Father's name day. He continued,
“How often we look for life among dead things, things that cannot
give life, that are here today and gone tomorrow!”.
The Pope explained that these words
help us “when we close ourselves within any form of selfishness or
complacency; when we allow ourselves to be seduced by earthly powers
and the things of this world, forgetting God and neighbour; when we
place our trust in worldly vanities, in money, in success”, and he
commented that for us, as for Thomas and Mary Magdalene, “it is not
easy to open oneself to Jesus; it is not obvious to accept he life of
the Risen Christ and His presence among us”.
“This question helps us resist the
temptation to look back, to what was yesterday, and pushes us forward
into the future. … Today this question is also addressed to us.
You, why are you looking among the dead for one who is alive? You,
who close in on yourself after a failure or who no longer have the
strength to pray? You who feel alone, abandoned by friends, and
perhaps even by God? You who have lost hope or you who feel
imprisoned by your sins? You who aspire to beauty, spiritual
perfection, justice, peace?”.
“We need to hear ourselves repeat and
remind each other of the angel’s admonition”, concluded the Holy
Father, “since it helps us to emerge from our moments of sadness
and opens up horizons of joy and hope. That hope that removes stones
from graves and encourages us to proclaim the Good News, capable of
generating new life for others. … Let us not seek among those many
tombs that promise everything and give nothing!”.
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