VATICAN (Vatican News, translated from French): In the Easter message to his diocesans, Cardinal Stephen Chow, SJ, referenced the gospel story of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus to encourage the faithful not to despair and to share the joy of the Resurrection
“Confusion, deep disappointment and despair are easily identifiable in the original Easter stories,” assured Cardinal Stephen at the beginning of his Easter message. Far from a festive atmosphere, disappointment and disillusionment reign among the disciples of the Lord before the announcement of the Resurrection, he assures, taking as witness the episode of the disciples of Emmaus [Luke 24, 13].
The shock of surprise
Leaving Jerusalem, the two disciples fled the community, thinking that Jesus had lost by allowing himself to be killed by the Romans. But the risen Lord appears to them on the way to their hometown without being recognized. The bishop of Hong Kong sees it as a message of hope because “who would have believed in this result, totally illogical and beyond all expectations?” he asks himself. For him, this surprise “is the experience of the Resurrection.”
Cardinal Stephen brings this surprise into the modern context and assures that “God tells us, as he did more than 2000 years ago in front of Jerusalem, that no evil power can prevent him from reviving the life from death, hope from despair and justice from injustice.”
The courage to come back
Continuing with the example of the disciples of Emmaus, he encourages the faithful to support “those who are discouraged or who doubt the goodness of their lives or of the world they perceive.” The two disciples from the Gospel of Luke return to Jerusalem to the community, despite the threats weighing on them.
The cardinal then drew a second image from a Chinese proverb that tells the story of two fish struggling in a dried-up puddle, trying to stay alive and wet by spitting on each other. The rain would eventually have fallen and the two fish would have survived. For the bishop, sharing the few resources and mutual aid are a powerful ability in the context of a “world deeply wounded by arrogant ideologies and wars whose effects are increasingly felt, or by a weakened local economy that is struggling to recover, or by dominant socio-political narratives that seem to offer no hope.”
Being the stranger who brings hope
Once again, Cardinal Stephen urged hope: “our faith tells us that God is always with us, blessing us through different people and different means, especially those we least expect.”The cardinal invited everyone to imitate Jesus in the gospel story of Emmaus, and “to be this ‘stranger’ for others, by sharing with them our reasons for remaining in hope and our few resources.” In conclusion, the Bishop of Hong Kong assures that “peace and unconditional dialogue open the way to healing and recovery.”
