Catholic Church England and Wales / Flickr
CV NEWS FEED // A vibrant sea of flowers and more than 50,000 faithful filled St. Peter’s Square on Easter Sunday as Italian Cardinal Angelo Comastri presided over Mass on behalf of Pope Francis, delivering a message of hope and renewal at the heart of the Catholic world.
Cardinal Comastri read Pope Francis’ homily, which called on Christians everywhere to seek the living Christ with renewed vigor. “Christ is risen, he is alive! He is no longer a prisoner of death, he is no longer wrapped in the shroud, and therefore we cannot confine him to a fairy tale, we cannot make him a hero of the ancient world, or think of him as a statue in a museum!” the Pope’s words rang out across the sunlit square.
Pope Francis, through Cardinal Comastri, urged the faithful not to remain stationary but to take action, echoing the haste and yearning of Mary Magdalene, Peter, and John in the Easter Gospel.
“We must look for him and this is why we cannot remain stationary. 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, look for him in everyday business, look for him everywhere except in the tomb,” the homily proclaimed.
The Pope emphasized that Easter faith is not about “complacent settling into some sort of ‘religious reassurance,’” but rather a call to run, to seek, and to perceive the risen Christ in daily life. “Easter spurs us to action, to run like Mary Magdalene and the disciples; it invites us to have eyes that can ‘see beyond,’ to perceive Jesus, the one who lives, as the God who reveals himself and makes himself present even today, who speaks to us, goes before us, surprises us,” he said.
In a prayerful conclusion, Pope Francis asked for the grace of spiritual renewal: “Lord, on this feast day we ask you for this gift: that we too may be made new, so as to experience this eternal newness. Cleanse us, O God, from the sad dust of habit, tiredness and indifference; give us the joy of waking every morning with wonder, with eyes ready to see the new colours of this morning, unique and unlike any other. […] Everything is new, Lord, and nothing is the same, nothing is old”.
The flower-filled square, alive with song and prayer, became a living symbol of the Pope’s message: “With You, O Lord, everything is new. With you, everything begins again.”
Urbi et Orbi
At the end of the Mass, Pope Francis himself led the Easter blessing known as Urbi et Orbi (to the City and the World.)
The Pontiff, who continues his recovery from bilateral pneumonia, greeted the crowd and then passed on his text to be read by Archbishop Diego Ravelli, the Master of Pontifical Liturgical Celebrations.
The blessing, which called for peace worldwide, global disarmament and the release of prisoners, concluded: “Dear brothers and sisters, in the Lord’s Paschal Mystery, death and life contended in a stupendous struggle, but the Lord now lives forever. He fills us with the certainty that we too are called to share in the life that knows no end, when the clash of arms and the rumble of death will be heard no more.”
