VATICAN (CNS): “All those who put their hope in God place their feeble hands in his strong and mighty hand; they let themselves be raised up and set out on a journey,” said Pope Francis as he gave what would turn out to be his Easter blessing, Urbi et Orbi [to the city and the world] on April 20.
The pope’s voice was weak, as it had been since he was released from the hospital March 23, and he barely raised his arms as he made the sign of the cross, but the tens of thousands of people in St. Peter’s Square were appreciative and clapped loudly after saying, “Amen.”
Even though his doctors had prescribed at least two months of rest and recuperation for the 88-year-old pope, he did not let that keep him from his mission, as he continued to work, meet people, and write reflections and homilies. While he was not present for the Easter morning Mass in St. Peter’s Square he arrived shortly after noon to give the solemn blessing.
Pope Francis wished everyone a Happy Easter and then asked his master of liturgical ceremonies, Archbishop Diego Ravelli, to read his message, which insisted that “Easter is the celebration of life!”
He wrote, “Together with the risen Jesus,” those who trust in God “become pilgrims of hope, witnesses of the victory of love and of the disarmed power of life.”
Together with the risen Jesus [those who trust in God] become pilgrims of hope, witnesses of the victory of love and of the disarmed power of life
Pope Francis
The pope said, “God created us for life and wants the human family to rise again,” he wrote. “In his eyes, every life is precious! The life of a child in the mother’s womb, as well as the lives of the elderly and the sick, who in more and more countries are looked upon as people to be discarded.”
Pope Francis condemned the “great thirst for death” seen in violence and wars around the world and in the “contempt” people, including government leaders, direct toward “the vulnerable, the marginalised and migrants!”
The pope also prayed for peace in war-torn nations, mentioning by name Israel, Palestine, Ukraine, Yemen, Sudan, South Sudan, Congo and Myanmar.
Pope Francis condemned “the growing climate of anti-semitism throughout the world.” But he also called attention to “the people of Gaza, and its Christian community in particular, where the terrible conflict continues to cause death and destruction and to create a dramatic and deplorable humanitarian situation.”
He said in his message: “I appeal to the warring parties: call a ceasefire, release the hostages and come to the aid of a starving people that aspires to a future of peace.”
Some 50,000 tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, roses and other flowers and bushes decorated the steps leading up to St. Peter’s Basilica while garlands framed the main entrance to the atrium of the basilica and adorned the central balcony.
The pope also prayed for peace in war-torn nations, mentioning by name Israel, Palestine, Ukraine, Yemen, Sudan, South Sudan, Congo and Myanmar
Because Easter fell on the same day on the Julian and Gregorian calendars, meaning Catholic and Orthodox were celebrating on the same day, the Vatican added Byzantine stichera or hymns and stichos or Psalm verses after the chanting of the gospel in Latin and in Greek.
The pope’s Easter Mass homily—read by Angelo Cardinal Comastri, retired archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica—focused on the gospel’s description of Mary Magdalene running to tells the disciples that Jesus had risen and Peter and John running to verify the news.
Pope Francis noted that running “expresses the desire, the yearning of the heart, the inner attitude of those who set out to search for Jesus.” And because he has risen from the dead, people must look for Jesus in someplace other than the tomb.
“We must take action, set out to look for him: look for him in life, look for him in the faces of our brothers and sisters,” he said. “We must look for him without ceasing. Because if he has risen from the dead, then he is present everywhere, he dwells among us, he hides himself and reveals himself even today in the sisters and brothers we meet along the way, in the most ordinary and unpredictable situations of our lives.”
Jesus “is alive and is with us always, shedding the tears of those who suffer and adding to the beauty of life through the small acts of love carried out by each of us,” Pope Francis wrote.
After the Mass, the Easter blessing, Pope Francis got in the popemobile and rode around St. Peter’s Square, waving to the crowd and blessing babies.
