On Easter Sunday, in St. Peter’s Square, Cardinal Comastri presided over the Mass on behalf of Pope Francis. In the Pontiff’s homily, he urged the faithful to have hope that “we can live this poor, fragile, and wounded existence clinging to Christ, because He has conquered death, overcomes our darkness, and will overcome the world’s darkness.”

By Isabella H. de Carvalho – Vatican City

The risen Christ “hides and reveals Himself in the sisters and brothers we encounter”, in the “most anonymous and unpredictable situations of our lives”, and “in our daily lives”, so “we must get moving, go out to seek Him”. This was the Pope’s exhortation to the faithful in the homily for Easter Sunday Mass on April 20. The liturgy, celebrated this morning in St. Peter’s Square, was presided over by Cardinal Angelo Comastri, the emeritus General Vicar for Vatican City and emeritus Archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica, who, at the end of the homily, thanked the Pontiff for this “strong invitation to awaken our faith”.

Under a spring sky, approximately 35,000 faithful gathered in Bernini’s colonnade. Among them were the Prime Minister of Croatia, Andrej Plenković, and a delegation from the Netherlands. As is customary every year, the Vatican Basilica’s parvis was adorned with flowers and plants of all types and colors for Holy Week. Since this year Christians in the East and West celebrate Easter on the same day, the Gospel was proclaimed in both Greek and Latin. Easter chants from the Byzantine liturgy, which were traditionally sung before the Pope on Easter Sunday, were also performed.

READ THE FULL TEXT OF POPE FRANCIS’S HOMILY HERE

The Hope that Christ Conquers Death

In the Pope’s homily, read by Comastri, there is a strong invitation to the faithful to believe in the “greatest hope of our lives”, that “we can live this poor, fragile, and wounded existence clinging to Christ, because He has conquered death, overcomes our darkness, and will overcome the darkness of the world, to make us live with Him in joy”. The Pope emphasizes that the Jubilee Year the Church is experiencing is the perfect opportunity to entrust to God “our sufferings and anxieties” and “the fate of humanity”. Jesus “wants to renew our lives even today.”

We cannot park our hearts in the illusions of this world or lock them in sadness; we must run, full of joy. Let’s run to Jesus, rediscover the priceless grace of being His friends. Let His Word of life and truth illuminate our path

Getting Into Motion

Referring to the Gospel of John, where Mary Magdalene and the disciples discover the empty tomb, the Pope emphasizes that to find the risen Jesus Christ, one must get moving and seek Him. “The protagonists of the Easter stories all run,” he highlights. This movement shows “the desire, the impulse of the heart, the inner attitude of those who seek Jesus,” he continues, explaining that “Easter hands us over to movement, urges us to run” like the disciples.

Like Mary Magdalene, every day we can experience losing the Lord, but every day we can run to seek Him again, knowing with certainty that He can be found and enlightens us with the light of His resurrection

Christ Is Not a Statue or a Hero of the Past

The Pope then emphasizes that the risen Christ is a significant fact for every person’s life: “He cannot be locked in a beautiful story to tell” or “made into a hero of the past or thought of as a statue placed in a museum room.” Nor can the resurrection be considered “a static arrangement or a peaceful settling into some religious reassurance.” Easter, Francis continues, invites each person to have “eyes capable of ‘seeing beyond’, to see Jesus, the Living One” and see God present in the events of life.

He is alive and always remains with us, shedding tears for those who suffer and multiplying the beauty of life in the small acts of love of each of us