The Catholic Pontiff has offered prayers of courage for all the suffering across the globe as he pledged commitment to their plight.
Pope Francis stated this in his Easter Message at Saint Peter’s Basilica.
In his words, In this darkness that you are living, Mr. Mayor, Parliamentarians, the thick darkness of war, of cruelty, we are all praying, praying with you and for you tonight. We are praying for all the suffering. We can only give you our company, our prayer and say to you: “Courage! We are accompanying you!” And also to say to you the greatest thing we are celebrating today: Christòs voskrés! Christ is risen.”
The light of the resurrection generates missionary disciples who return from the tomb in order to bring to all the Gospel of the risen Christ. That is why, after seeing and hearing, the women ran to proclaim to the disciples the joy of the resurrection.
— Pope Francis (@Pontifex) April 16, 2022
The Catholic Pontiff further stressed the need to seek Christ in the darkest corners of life, where there are people who weep, who struggle, suffer and hope, rather than neglecting such..“ After the women had seen the empty tomb, the two men in dazzling garments said to them, why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen”. We do well to listen to those words and to repeat them: He is not here! Whenever we think we have understood everything there is to know about God, and can pigeonhole him in our own ideas and categories, let us repeat to ourselves: He is not here! Whenever we seek him only in times of emotion, so often passing, and moments of need, only to set him aside and forget about him in the rest of our daily life and decisions, let us repeat: He is not here! And whenever we think we can imprison him in our words, in our formulas, and in our customary ways of thinking and acting, and neglect to seek him in the darkest corners of life, where there are people who weep, who struggle, suffer and hope, let us repeat: He is not here! He added.
He further stated that the essence of Easter is to encounter Christ today as the living God who desires to change us and to change our world “if we continue to be dead; if we remain prisoners of the past; if in our lives we lack the courage to let ourselves be forgiven by God who forgives everything, the courage to change, to break with the works of evil, to decide for Jesus and his love. If we continue to reduce faith to a talisman, making God a lovely memory from times past, instead of encountering him today as the living God who desires to change us and to change our world. A Christianity that seeks the Lord among the ruins of the past and encloses him in the tomb of habit is a Christianity without Easter. Yet the Lord is risen! Let us not tarry among the tombs, but run to find him, the Living One! Nor may we be afraid to seek him also in the faces of our brothers and sisters, in the stories of those who hope and dream, in the pain of those who we suffer: God is there! The Pope said.
