Happy Easter!
After having experienced the celebrations of Holy Thursday and Good Friday, with their various liturgical expressions (the washing of the feet, the Stations of the Cross, the adoration of the cross) and having accompanied Jesus through the reading of the Gospel stories, finally yesterday, Saturday, after sunset we celebrated the victory of life over death: the stone was rolled away, and the tomb was empty! «Why do you look for the one who lives among the dead? He is not here. He has risen!»
With the Resurrection, at dawn on Sunday, we reached the center of our faith, the joyful celebration that history did not end in the dark dampness of a hopeless tomb.
At the Easter Vigil, so rich liturgically, we use three fundamental signs to speak of Jesus’ resurrection: first, fire; then, water; and finally, the bread and wine with which we celebrate the Eucharist.
There is an implicit invitation in the use of these signs: the invitation to be fire, water, and broken bread for others.
At times we walk in the dark, in the midst of very cold nights: the icy, shadowy night of loneliness, discouragement, hopelessness, fear, and the prison in which our selfishness imprisons us.
Today we are invited to be fire: a fire that brightens the world and a fire that warms it up. A fire that lights the way and disperses the shadows, a fire that comforts us and restores life when our bodies and souls have already grown numb, anaesthetized by the cold.
At times we are a parched, cracked, sterile land, a desert where nothing grows, a barren wasteland where others cannot find even a green breeze of joy.
Today we are invited to be water. Fresh water that renews and cleanses, that gives life, that with its fruitful course transforms deserts into gardens.
At times we are hungry. We feel weak, lacking every kind of nourishment: we lack bread, strong friendships, purpose, hope.
Today we are invited to be bread and wine for others: to nourish those who are spiritually anemic with our solidarity and our affection, also to seek nourishment in the witness and example of others, and in Jesus of Nazareth, conqueror of death.
Let us celebrate Easter: let us be fire, water, and food for our brothers and sisters!
