OMELIE / Omelie EN

01 apr 2018

01/04/2018  Easter Sunday

01/04/2018  Easter Sunday

Vigil Mass Mark 16,1-7

Reading 1, Acts 10,34.37-43 * Psalm 117 * Reading 2, Colossians 3,1-4 (1Cor 5,6-8) * Gospel, John 20,1-9 (Luke 24,13-35)

The Gospel lingers over the comings and goings of the disciples from Jesus’ empty tomb! Mary of Magdala does not wait for the daylight in order to head towards the place in which her “Light” seems to have been switched off. When she sees the stone turned over, she does not stop thinking about it, she does not try to remember the words that the Lord uttered, but she runs right away to the one that Jesus Himself had chosen as first among His Twelve. She is positive that someone has stolen the Lord’s body. We do not have to be surprised: not even we would have thought that the stone had been moved from the inside instead of from the outside!

Peter and the other disciple run in order to make sure. The evangelist, that – for sure – is “the other disciple”, tells us all the details of that running, his consideration in waiting for Peter, the careful observation of the detail of the position of the bandages.

Is a great love the one of Mary and of the two disciples, a great love that ends up in an act of love. “He saw and he believed”!

We would like to be with those two while running for Jesus, to be with them in believing that He freed Himself from the empty bandages left on the spot without having been touched nor stolen by anyone!

To believe! Faith is today’s gift, of this day most holy and full of joy! Saint Peter speaks of a joyful faith when he announces these happenings, a faith that obtains for us the forgiveness of sins and then the peace of heart and the experience of a brand new life!

Saint Paul as well speaks of faith and a new life, he who urges us to let the resurrection of Jesus bear fruits in our life! If He has risen, we too, who are His, live according to new certainties and positive expectations of an eternity! During our days then we will keep our eyes turned away from and above the things of the world. In those we have experience of death, of pain and fear, but Jesus is not influenced any more by caducity, and then in looking at Him and loving Him we will not live any more in the anxiety and anguish of death. When we think of “things above” we live in hope and joy! Searching for the things above we give a new breath to every moment of the day and to all our relationships, that are not only friendships any more, but they are full of eternity!

Jesus has risen! Jesus is alive, he overcame the obstacle of death. We are His, baptized in the water flown from His chest, refreshed by the blood shed by Him, nourished by his body. We are His, and then His life fills our life. We are His, and then we have in front of us as a goal not death, but His wonderful light and His eternal Life.

Bending our heads before His tomb like Mary Magdalene, we cannot feel the smell of death, but only the perfumes of life, perfumes that feel our breath with joy and hope!

Lord Jesus, You have risen from the dead! You let us run, You let us look, You let us think, and then You come towards us in person to reassure us, to be the center of our unity. Stay with us, and we will remain with You, united around Your altar, loving one another as You taught us and You showed us!

Jesus, You have risen, Hallelujah!