Pope Francis prays during the Easter Vigil Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on April 8, 2023. / Daniel Ibanez/CNA
Vatican City, Apr 8, 2023 / 15:00 pm (CNA).
Here is the full text of Pope Francis’ Easter Vigil homily, delivered on April 8 in St. Peter’s Basilica.
The night is drawing to a close and the first light of dawn is appearing upon the horizon as the women set out toward Jesus’ tomb. They make their way forward, bewildered and dismayed, their hearts overwhelmed with grief at the death that took away their Beloved. Yet upon arriving and seeing the empty tomb, they turn around and retrace their steps. They leave the tomb behind and run to the disciples to proclaim a change of course: Jesus is risen and awaits them in Galilee. In their lives, those women experienced Easter as a Pasch, a passage. They pass from walking sorrowfully towards the tomb to running back with joy to the disciples to tell them not only that the Lord is risen, but also that they are to set out immediately to reach a destination, Galilee. There they will meet the Risen Lord; that is where the resurrection leads them. The rebirth of the disciples, the resurrection of their hearts, passes through Galilee. Let us enter into this journey of the disciples from the tomb to Galilee.
The Gospel tells us that the women went “to see the tomb” (Mt 28:1). They think that they will find Jesus in the place of death and that everything is over, forever. Sometimes we too may think that the joy of our encounter with Jesus is something belonging to the past, whereas the present consists mostly of sealed tombs: tombs of disappointment, bitterness, and distrust, of the dismay of thinking that “nothing more can be done”, “things will never change”, “better to live for today”, since “there is no certainty about tomorrow”. If we are prey to sorrow, burdened by sadness, laid low by sin, embittered by failure, or troubled by some problem, we also know the bitter taste of weariness and the absence of joy.
At times, we may simply feel weary about our daily routine, tired of taking risks in a cold, hard world where only the clever and the strong seem to get ahead. At other times, we may feel helpless and discouraged before the power of evil, the conflicts that tear relationships apart, the attitudes of calculation and indifference that seem to prevail in society, the cancer of corruption … the spread of injustice, the icy winds of war. Then too, we may have come face to face with death, because it robbed us of the presence of our loved ones or because we brushed up against it in illness or a serious setback. Then it is easy to yield to disillusionment, once the wellspring of hope has dried up. In these or similar situations … our paths come to a halt before a row of tombs, and we stand there, filled with sorrow and regret, alone and powerless, repeating the question, “Why?” … The women at Easter, however, do not stand frozen before the tomb; rather, the Gospel tells us, “They went away quickly from the tomb, fearful yet overjoyed … and ran to announce this to his disciples” (v. 8). They bring the news that will change life and history forever: Christ is risen! (v. 6). At the same time, they remember to convey the Lord’s summons to the disciples to go to Galilee, for there they will see him (cf. v. 7). Brothers and sisters, what does it mean to go to Galilee? Two things: on the one hand, to leave the enclosure of the Upper Room and go to the land of the Gentiles (cf. Mt 4:15), to come forth from hiding and to open themselves up to mission, to leave fear behind and to set out for the future. On the other hand–-and this is very good—to return to the origins, for it was precisely in Galilee that everything began. There the Lord had met and first called the disciples. So, to go to Galilee means to return to the grace of the beginnings, to regain the memory that regenerates hope, the “memory of the future” bestowed on us by the Risen One.
This, then, is what the Pasch of the Lord accomplishes: it motivates us to move forward, to leave behind our sense of defeat, to roll away the stone of the tombs in which we often imprison our hope, and to look with confidence to the future, for Christ is risen and has changed the direction of history. Yet, to do this, the Pasch of the Lord takes us back to the grace of our own past; it brings us back to Galilee, where our love story with Jesus began. Where was that first call? In other words, it asks us to relive that moment, that situation, that experience in which we met the Lord, experienced his love, and received a radiantly new way of seeing ourselves … the world around us, and the mystery of life itself. To rise again, to start anew, to take up the journey, we always need to return to Galilee, that is, to go back, not to an abstract or ideal Jesus, but to the living, concrete, and palpable memory of our first encounter with him. Yes, brothers and sisters, to go forward we need to go back, to remember; to have hope, we need to revive our memory. This is what we are asked to do: to remember and go forward! If you recover that first love, the wonder and joy of your encounter with God, you will keep advancing. So remember, and keep moving forward. Remember, and keep moving forward.
Remember your own Galilee and walk towards it, for it is the “place” where you came to know Jesus personally, where he stopped being just another personage from a distant past, but a living person: not some distant God but the God who is at your side, who more than anyone else knows you and loves you. Brother, sister, remember Galilee, your Galilee, and your call. Remember the Word of God who at a precise moment spoke directly to you. Remember that powerful experience of the Spirit; that great joy of forgiveness experienced after that one confession; that intense and unforgettable moment of prayer; that light that was kindled within you and changed your life; that encounter, that pilgrimage. … Each of us knows the place of his or her interior resurrection, that beginning and foundation, the place where things changed. We cannot leave this in the past; the Risen Lord invites us to return there to celebrate Easter. … Remember your Galilee. Remind yourself.
Today, relive that memory. Return to that first encounter. Think back on what it was like, and reconstruct the context, time, and place. Remember the emotions and sensations; see the colors and savor the taste of it. For, you know, it is when you forgot that first love when you failed to remember that first encounter, that the dust began to settle on your heart. That is when you experienced sorrow and, like the disciples, you saw the future as empty, like a tomb with a stone sealing off all hope. Yet today, brothers and sisters, the power of Easter summons you to roll away every stone of disappointment and mistrust. The Lord is an expert in rolling back the stones of sin and fear. He wants to illuminate your sacred memory, your most beautiful memory, and to make you relive your first encounter with him. Remember and keep moving forward. Return to him and rediscover the grace of God’s resurrection within you …
Dear brothers and sisters, let us follow Jesus to Galilee, encounter him, and worship him there, where he is waiting for each of us. Let us revive the beauty of that moment when we realized that he is alive and we made him the Lord of our lives. Let us return to Galilee. … Let each of us return to his or her own Galilee, to the place where we first encountered him. Let us rise to new life!
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Surely China, Russia and Saudi Arabia will eventually embrace fraternity and sign the new climate accord.
So, the remaining question is how to deal with such as these bad actors once the invitation to dialogue falls short. The hope is that a new grassroots and trans-boundary consciousness might emerge, perhaps even under a Synod on Synodality which reaches beyond the Church and into a world of fallen-aways and atheists and such.
But then, on the other hand, this is a big wager with multiple abysses of all types now on the poker table…In addition to the named ecological crisis, the social crisis, and the health crisis, the underlying, enabling and post-Christian “culture of death” also comes to mind. As does the duty and “window of opportunity” for laymen in the secular world to at least not aggressively make the disinterred culture of Baal even worse. Biden, of course, reports that he’s a good boy and that government funding of Aztec-like fetal dismemberment is a non-issue, and no one says otherwise. Thus, it cometh to pass that the “window of opportunity” to deal with Cupich’s “rabbit hole” catastrophe yet again passes us by.
Best not to shine a light on the Church’s spiritual crisis of Eucharist incoherence. All crises are equal, but some crises are more equal than others.
Never let a good crisis go to waste is a principle for antithetical action found in Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals [also Never waste a crisis adopted by ex Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel]. Is it unusual that Pope Francis perceives the Covid crisis as an opportunity to advance an agenda? “Thus, an ecological crisis, represented by the cry of the earth, and a social crisis, represented by the cry of the poor, have been made deadly by a healthcare crisis, the Covid-19 pandemic” (Francis). Ecology and poverty are made deadly, the antithesis to their neutral character, which is the thesis. Although it seems difficult to make that dual inference, the pontiff explains that the disease amplifies the disturbance of our global ecology presumably by industry and the high morbidity among the poor as compared to the affluent. While there is statistical indication that holds for the poor Francis somehow finds correspondence of disease with ecology. “Making peace with nature must be a priority for the 21st century” is the clue. “Heedless dominion over the Earth”, Mother Earth is the realization of his thought, a warfare with nature as if Earth mother were retaliating. His Holiness makes the added inference that Covid is that retaliative punishment on Mankind. True to Alinskyan subversion rules, the antithesis advances his agenda. His supporting premise is that the Covid virus is a product of nature rather than a biological weapon engineered by the CCP at China’s Hunan lab. Despite that all the evidence points to the lab. The resolution is found in economic equanimity and ecology, rather than correcting China’s inhumanity to Man. And of course the abeyance from the current issue of globalized abortion.
An addendum. Hunan is famous for its cuisine, Hunan chicken a specialty. Whereas Wuhan is notorious for its virus research.
I still believe that this Wuhan Epidemic is Divine Punishment in part to Pope Francis allowing, and participating in, the worship of the disgusting Pachamama Demon Idol in the Vatican Gardens in 2019. Is it coincidence that the Virus appeared to have originated in Wuhan at almost the exact same time? I think not.
Yes, and consider modern man’s moral degradation. The number of persons participating in contraception, abortion, gender-mutilation and other unnatural acts continues to grow. Younger and progressively younger members are recruited to such practices. The appalling horror should be clear and our lenses should magnify. We witnessed (in Loudoun County, Va.) the father of a daughter ARRESTED for his ANGER because NO ONE IN AUTHORITY NOTIFIED HIM THAT HIS DAUGHTER had been RAPED in her public school bathroom.
Scripture has it: God chastises those He loves. If man continues to act against God’s glory, against the goodness and purpose of our and His nature, man shall continue to witness greater crises of nature where God appears not to dwell. Scripture and God’s prophets have said so.
As Fr. Peter says, to claim that poverty and industrialization are to blame is an inference (Meiron adds: suggestive of egregious logical error). I reassert: Francis needs a bedside Bible, a good spiritual director (He is always available to those who knock), and a course in Thomistic metaphysics. For a start, a pure, humble, chastened heart will work wonders.
Addendum: That one is far from a pure, humble, chastened heart does not bode well for a peaceful future. We are in the thick of it with more clouds and crises forecast.
With just one exception, I agree with our Pope regarding his concerns.
Right from the beginning, man had a simple religion. It was a God-inspired one. The tenets were simple. Revere God and be good stewards of creation. And this is how they did live. This God-based humanism ensured that they lived in a paradise. But then their relationship with God was completely ruined when, under Satan’s influence, selflessness gave way to self-centeredness. All disobedient actions have consequences and, in this case, the Garden became a wasteland. It was then that death, confusion, disorder and other damaging consequences set in. Paradise was lost. Adam’s sinful action badly affected nature.
It happened also in Noah’s time. The affect of sinful ways was enacted through nature. And nature again played a devastating role in Sodom. We do not really know what the full extent of the consequences of our wrongdoings. Only God knows.
The problem I do have is the connection that is being made between our CO2 and climate. I do not believe that CO2 has heat-generating capacity. I am worried because CO2 is vital for plant survival, and plants do make food for all living things. Satan, who out of hatred of God, has attacked our marriage and family, and also our nature by playing with our two genders. Now, by attacking CO2, is he trying to deprive us of food? If anyone can prove that CO2 does generate heat, that it causes global warming and consequently climate change, I will rethink my views.
es of our disobedient actions are. Only God knows his laws. When Jesus walked the earth, he emphasized the same
Loving neighbor obviously includes his living conditions.
Besides these examples,
it is so easy for us to see how polluted waters and air can cause us, the flora and fauna problems. We know that people living in slums and unhygienic conditions ca
The problem I have is the connection that they are making between our CO2 and climate. Carbon, which is so important for our ecosystem is being made into a villain. I just wonder if this is part of Satan’s strategy to “hurt” God by attacking CO2. Satan has got us to harm family (abortion), marriage (divorce and SSM), our nature (the two genders that are vital for our survival) and now CO2 (vital for plants and the food they make for all living things). If anyone can prove that CO2 causes global warming and subsequently climate change, then I will rethink this issue.