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Pope Francis presided over the solemn celebration of Holy Night at the altar of the Chair, with a limited participation of the faithful. The Vigil opened with the blessing of fire and the gradual illumination of St. Peter’s Basilica. “Beyond all defeat, evil and violence, beyond all suffering and death – said the Pontiff – the Risen One lives and carries history”
Amedeo Lomonaco – Vatican City
Light and prayer reverberate from Rome throughout the world, wounded by wars, poverty and pandemics, to relive the Lord’s Passover and turn our gaze to Jesus who passes from death to life. At the beginning of the celebration, darkness and gloom fill the spaces of St. Peter’s Basilica. In the liturgy of the Easter Vigil, the darkness is broken with the blessed fire in front of the altar and with the candle lit by the Pope that recalls the true light: that of Christ who resurrects and disperses the darkness. The procession to the altar, with the deacon carrying the raised candle, is marked by the song “Lumen Christi”. The darkness disappears until the moment when the lights of the Basilica are turned on. The deacon incenses the book and the paschal candle. The faithful listen standing up, with a lighted candle, to the song of the Easter preconception, with which the victory of light over darkness is proclaimed. (Listen to the report with the voice of the Pope)
The crucifix has risen
The three readings from the book of Genesis, Exodus and the book of the prophet Ezekiel then resound in the Basilica. After the ringing of the bells and the singing of “Glory”, the words of the letter of the Apostle Paul to the Romans were spread “how Christ rose from the dead for the glory of the Father, so that we too can walk” . in a new life. “The deacon approaches the Holy Father and sings the Hallelujah. The song precedes the Gospel of Mark with the phrases that a young man addressed to the three women who had gone” to the tomb at dawn “: afraid! You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified. He has risen, he is not here “. That young man, “dressed in a white robe”, adds: “Tell his disciples and Peter: he is going ahead of you to Galilee.” In his homily, Pope Francis recalls that “the women thought they would find the body to anoint.” “Instead, they found an empty tomb.” The Pontiff also exhorts us to accept the invitation to go “to Galilee, where the Risen Lord precedes us.” But what does it mean to “go to Galilee” – asks the Holy Father -? “In the first place, it means starting over,” explains the Pontiff. For the disciples it means returning “to the place where the Lord first sought them out and called them to follow him.” “It is the place of the first meeting and of the first love.”
However, although they were always with him, they did not fully understand him, they often misinterpreted his words and fled the cross, leaving him alone. Despite this failure, the Risen Lord presents himself as the One who, once again, precedes them in Galilee; it precedes them, that is, it is before them. He calls them and calls them to follow him, never getting tired. The Risen One is saying to them: “Let’s start over where we started. Let’s start again. I love you with me again, despite and beyond all failures ”. In this Galilee we learn the amazement of the infinite love of the Lord, who traces new paths in the paths of our defeats. And so is the Lord: he makes new paths on the paths of our defeats. He is like that and invites us to Galilee to do this.
Start again
The invitation to “go to Galilee” is linked to the first Easter announcement that Francis delivers to the faithful throughout the world: “it is always possible to start over, because there is always a new life that God is able to restart in us beyond all our failures ”.
Even from the rubble of our heart – each of us knows, knows the rubble of our own heart – even from the rubble of our heart God can build a work of art, even from the ruinous fragments of our humanity God prepares a new story . He always precedes us: on the cross of suffering, desolation and death, as well as in the glory of a life that rises, of a history that changes, of a hope that is reborn. And in these dark months of pandemic we listen to the Risen Lord who invites us to start over, never to lose hope.
Treading new paths
The Pope emphasizes that going to Galilee, secondly, “means following new paths”, “going in the opposite direction to the tomb”. “Many live the ‘faith of memories’, as if Jesus were a character from the past, a friend from his youth now distant, a fact that happened a long time ago, when I attended catechism as a child”. This, the Pontiff explains, “is a faith made of habits, of things from the past, of good childhood memories. A faith “that no longer touches me, no longer challenges me.”
Going to Galilee, on the other hand, means learning that faith, to be alive, must return to the path. Every day he must relive the beginning of the journey, the amazement of the first meeting. And then to trust oneself, without the presumption of already knowing everything, but with the humility of one who allows himself to be surprised by the ways of God. We are generally afraid that God will surprise us. And today the Lord invites us to be surprised. We go to Galilee to discover that God cannot be placed among the memories of childhood but that he is alive, he always surprises. Risen, it never ceases to amaze us. Here is the second Easter announcement: faith is not a repertoire of the past, Jesus is not an old-fashioned character. He is alive, here and now. Walk with you every day, in the situation that you are living, in the trial that you are going through, in the dreams that you carry inside. It opens new paths where it seems that there are none, it pushes you to go against the current of regret and the “already seen”. Even if everything seems lost to you, open in amazement to its novelty: it will surprise you.
Jesus loves us without borders
The Pope emphasizes that going to Galilee also means “going to the borders.” Galilee, Francis recalls, is “the farthest place”, a region where “those furthest from the ritual purity of Jerusalem live.” “However, Jesus began his mission from there, directing the announcement to those who lead their daily life with difficulty, to the excluded, the fragile, the poor, to be the face and presence of God, who is going to seek who is without getting tired, discouraged or lost, who moves to the limit of existence because in his eyes no one is the last, no one excluded. “” There the Risen One asks his followers to go, even today. “” It is the place of life daily, they are the streets that we walk every day, they are the corners of our cities where the Lord precedes us and is present, precisely in the lives of those who spend and share time and home with us, work, efforts and hopes ”.
In Galilee we learn that we can find the Risen One in the faces of our brothers, in the enthusiasm of those who dream and in the resignation of the discouraged, in the smiles of those who rejoice and in the tears of those who suffer. especially the poor and the marginalized. We will be amazed at how the greatness of God is revealed in smallness, how his beauty shines in the simple and in the poor. Here, then, is the third Easter announcement: Jesus, the Risen One, loves us without limits and visits each of the situations of our life. He planted his presence in the heart of the world and also invites us to overcome barriers, overcome prejudices, get closer every day to those around us, to rediscover the grace of everyday life. Let us recognize it present in our Galilee, in everyday life. With him, life will change. Because beyond all defeat, evil and violence, beyond all suffering and death, the Risen One lives and the Risen One leads history.
Fears overcome by hope
The Pope concludes his homily with the exhortation to open your heart in amazement at the announcement of Easter: “Do not fear, he is risen! He awaits you in Galilee ”.
Sister, brother, if tonight you carry in your heart a dark hour, a day that has not yet dawned, a buried light, a broken dream, go, open your heart in amazement at the announcement of Easter: “Don’t be! Fear, He is risen! He awaits you in Galilee. ”Your expectations will not be unfinished, your tears will dry, your fears will be overcome by hope. Because, you know, the Lord always goes before you, He always walks before you. And, with him, life always begins anew.
After the homily delivered by Francis and the renewal of the baptismal promises, communion and the closing rites are preceded by the prayer of the faithful “Brothers and sisters, enlightened by the Risen One, light of the world, we are called to shine before humanity who seeks life, peace and joy. ”This is the true light that dispels darkness, a light that illuminates the Vigil in the Holy Night, mother of all vigils and of the entire world.
