By Thaddeus Jones Pope Francis attended the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday afternoon at St. Peter’s Basilica, full of 5,500 pilgrims. This celebration is the most formal and noble of all the Festive events. Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals, presided over the celebration, while Pope Francis delivered his sermon and baptized seven catechumens. The pope has been suffering from knee pain in recent months, something he also mentioned when he spoke to reporters recently after his pastoral trip to Malta.

Proximity to Ukraine

Present at the celebration were members of a small delegation from Ukraine, consisting of representatives of the local government and parliament, with whom the Pope met shortly before the inauguration. The delegation included the mayor of Melitopolis, Ivan Fedorov, now in exile. The Pope greeted him especially during the celebration. “In this darkness you live in, Mr. Mayor, Members of Parliament, in the dense darkness of war, of cruelty, we all pray, we pray with you and for you tonight. We pray for all suffering. We can only give you our company, our prayer and say to you: “Courage! We accompany you! ” And also to tell you the most important thing we celebrate today: Christòs voskrés! Christ is Risen!” Delivering his sermon Sitting, the Pope recalled how many writers have awakened the beauty of the night with a star, while the nights of war are characterized by streams of light that foretell death.

From embarrassment to joy

As he meditated on Easter night, he encouraged all to see the hopeful light of dawn, as experienced by the women of the Gospel who discovered the empty tomb of Jesus. They show us “the first rays of the dawn of the life of God rising into the darkness of our world.” Easter Vigil at St. Peter’s Basilica
The Pope recalled how the women who went early in the morning to anoint Jesus’s body were horrified when they found it empty and met two figures in dazzling clothes who told them that Jesus had risen. “They saw, they heard, they proclaimed” – three aspects of their experience can also be gained when we remember the Lord’s Passover from death to life.

The women saw

The first news of the resurrection meant “a point to be pondered,” the pope remarked, as he completely dashed expectations and came up with an astonishing and astonishing hope. Sometimes radically good news, many do not “find a place in our hearts,” the Pope added, and like women in the Gospel we can initially react with doubts and especially fear, as the Gospel narrative describes their reaction. Easter Vigil at St. Peter’s Basilica
“We can sometimes continue to look at life and reality with a frustrated perspective,” the pope said. However, the hope of Easter we proclaim today is a call from the Lord to look at life with different eyes and make the leap to truly believe that “fear, pain and death will not have the last word upon us.” While death can fill us with fear and sadness, he said, we must remember that “the Lord is risen!” “Let us look up, let us remove the veil of sorrow and grief from our eyes, and let us open our hearts to the hope that God brings!”

The women listened

Recalling the two men in dazzling clothes talking to women, saying “Why are you looking for the living among the dead? “He is not here, but he has been resurrected,” said the Pope. This answer can also be for us when we believe we have understood everything about God and let our own ideas and perspectives limit Him, or seek the Lord only in times of need and forget Him for the rest of our daily lives or when we neglect the Lord who exists in our brothers and sisters who need our help. Easter Vigil at St. Peter’s Basilica
The Pope added that we must free ourselves from the dying ways of thinking and behaving, where we can become captives of the past, without the courage to let ourselves be forgiven by God, to choose in favor of Jesus and his love. We must accept and meet the living God who wants to change us and change our world. “But the Lord is risen! Let us not stay among the tombs, but let us run to find him, the Living One! Nor should we be afraid to look for him in the faces of our brothers and sisters, in the stories of those who hope and dream, in the pain of those we suffer: God is there! “

declared the women

The last verb the Pope underlined was how women proclaimed the joy of the resurrection, opening “hearts to the extraordinary message of God’s triumph over evil and death.” This joy was not just a joyful consolation, but prompted them to create missionary disciples who “bring to all the gospel of the risen Christ.” The Pope said that after the women saw and heard, they were overwhelmed with momentum and enthusiasm to tell this good news, even if people thought they were crazy or would not believe it. Easter Vigil at St. Peter’s Basilica

Joy of the Gospel

The Pope expressed his desire for a Church that can proclaim in the same way, with the same fervor, the joy of the Gospel, what all Christians are called to do “to experience the risen Christ and share the experience with others.” and joy it brings. Easter Vigil baptism of catechumens
“Let us make Jesus, the Living One, rise from all those tombs in which we have sealed him … Let us bring him into our daily lives: through gestures of peace in these days characterized by the horror of war, through deeds Reconciliation between broken relationships, acts of compassion for those in need, acts of justice in situations of inequality and truth in lies. And above all, through works of love and brotherhood “.

Hope has a name: the name of Jesus

In conclusion, Pope Francis remembered how Jesus entered “the grave of our sin” and “lifted the weight of our burdens” restoring us to life. “Let us celebrate Easter with Christ! He is alive! Today, too, he walks among us, changes us and frees us … Because with Jesus, the Risen Lord, no night will last forever. and even in the darkest night, the morning star continues to shine. “ The whole video of the Easter Vigil with Pope Francis