Pope Francis
By Jon Egie with Agency Report
Pope Francis has enjoined Christians to leave behind their sense of defeat, roll away the stones of the tombs in which they have often imprisoned their hopes and look with confidence to the future, for Christ has risen and has changed the direction of history.
He gave the yesterday, April 8, during the Year 2023 Easter Vigil Mass held at the St Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City.
The mass had 40 Cardinals, 25 Bishops and about 200 priests in procession.
The pope urged Christians to relive that moment they first met Christ, experienced his lové and received a radiantly new way of seeing themselves, the world and the mystery of life so that they could start a new journey of hope and keep moving forward.
He said Christians experience sorrow when they forget their first love and when they failed to remember the first encounter they had with Christ, and hence, see the future as empty like a tomb with a stone sealing off all hope.
But he commanded that by the power of Easter, they be summoned to roll away every stone of disappointment and mistrust for the Lord according to him, is an expert in rolling back stones of sin and fear and will illuminate ” your beautiful memory to make you relive your first encounter with Christ.”
Excerpts of the Pope’s speech is here provided:
“Brothers and sisters, what does it mean to go to Galilee? Two things: on the one hand, to leave the enclosure of the Upper Room and go to the land of the Gentiles (cf. Mt 4:15), to come forth from hiding and to open themselves up to mission, to leave fear behind and to set out for the future. On the other hand–-and this is very good—to return to the origins, for it was precisely in Galilee that everything began. There the Lord had met and first called the disciples. So, to go to Galilee means to return to the grace of the beginnings, to regain the memory that regenerates hope, the “memory of the future” bestowed on us by the Risen One.
“This, then, is what the Pasch of the Lord accomplishes: it motivates us to move forward, to leave behind our sense of defeat, to roll away the stone of the tombs in which we often imprison our hope, and to look with confidence to the future, for Christ is risen and has changed the direction of history.
“Yet, to do this, the Pasch of the Lord takes us back to the grace of our own past; it brings us back to Galilee, where our love story with Jesus began, where that first call was.
“In other words, it asks us to relive that moment, that situation, that experience in which we met the Lord, experienced his love, and received a radiantly new way of seeing ourselves, the world around us, and the mystery of life itself. To rise again, to start anew, to take up the journey, we always need to return to Galilee, that is, to go back, not to an abstract or ideal Jesus, but to the living, concrete, and palpable memory of our first encounter with him.
“Yes, brothers and sisters, to go forward we need to go back, to remember; to have hope, we need to revive our memory. This is what we are asked to do: to remember and go forward! If you recover that first love, the wonder and joy of your encounter with God, you will keep advancing. So remember, and keep moving forward. Remember, and keep moving forward.
“Remember your own Galilee and walk towards it, for it is the “place” where you came to know Jesus personally, where he stopped being just another personage from a distant past, but a living person: not some distant God but the God who is at your side, who more than anyone else knows you and loves you.
“Brother, sister, remember Galilee, your Galilee, and your call. Remember the Word of God who at a precise moment spoke directly to you.
“Remember that powerful experience of the Spirit; that great joy of forgiveness experienced after that one confession; that intense and unforgettable moment of prayer; that light that was kindled within you and changed your life; that encounter, that pilgrimage. …
“Each of us knows the place of his or her interior resurrection, that beginning and foundation, the place where things changed. We cannot leave this in the past; the Risen Lord invites us to return there to celebrate Easter. Remember your Galilee, remember it.
“Today, relive that memory. Return to that first encounter. Think back on what it was like, and reconstruct the context, time, and place.
“Remember the emotions and sensations; see the colors and savor the taste of it. For, you know, it is when you forgot that first love when you failed to remember that first encounter, that the dust began to settle on your heart.
“That is when you experienced sorrow and, like the disciples, you saw the future as empty, like a tomb with a stone sealing off all hope. Yet today, brothers and sisters, the power of Easter summons you to roll away every stone of disappointment and mistrust. The Lord is an expert in rolling back the stones of sin and fear. He wants to illuminate your sacred memory, your most beautiful memory, and to make you relive your first encounter with him. Remember and keep moving forward. Return to him and rediscover the grace of God’s resurrection within you. Go back to Galilee, go back to your Galilee.
“Dear brothers and sisters, let us follow Jesus to Galilee, encounter him, and worship him there, where he is waiting for each of us. Let us revive the beauty of that moment when we realized that he is alive and we made him the Lord of our lives. Let us return to Galilee, to the Galilee of first love. Let each of us return to his or her own Galilee, to the place where we first encountered him. Let us rise to new life!” Pope Francis said
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