Today, Easter day we celebrate this truth: that each one of us is precious in the eyes of God. We were reminded of it by the evangelist John on Maundy Thursday when, before washing the feet of his disciples, “Jesus knowing that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to end” (Jn 13:1).
Whoever we are, whatever situation we are in, once again the Resurrection of Christ is telling us God loves us and his love for us is so great and so real, that he did not hesitate to send his Son , his only Son for our sake.
It was the experience of this incredible love thing that often made St Francis of Assisi cry before the Crucifix of San Damiano. As Francis said, he was there almost touching the love of God but realizing with great sadness that too many times this love wasn’t mutual. But what made him strong was the certainty that despite the fact that love of God is not always understood by men and women, this love doesn’t stop loving!
And so that this strength, the strength of love, becomes a source of new life, the source of the Resurrection, but still the question that is asked today comes to us: “Why do you see the living among the dead? Remember what he told you ² when he was still Galilee” (Luke 24:5-6).
This is what we are asked to believe, that is, even when love is crucified cannot die. “Remember what he told you he was still in Galilee …” in the light of this invitation how can we not recall, in this day the gospel that the Lord Jesus told his disciples when he said: “unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains alone; if it dies, it bears much fruit” (Jn 12:24)?
. This is the logic upon which Christ founded his preaching, a preaching that is not limited to words but that has gone through the reality of his life, through his passion and resurrection.
We, too, every time we celebrate Easter, perhaps we are just as the apostles, full of questions before such an extraordinary event, eager but at the same time fearful to believe.
We would like the Gospel to give us evidence, scientific data, some analysis. On the contrary, it doesn’t offer any of this. What it offers us instead is the witnesses, men and women who have announced from that Sunday on, that Jesus is risen!
And we also have had all over the world witnesses of the Risen Christ for 2000 years that have shown the truth of their testimony with their lives, the strength of their faith through own forgiveness, the power of their love through the gift of themselves. This is also evidence, maybe not the kind we want, but it is proof that always leaves us amazed and moved. On this bright and vibrant day of new life, we are also sent to proclaim today, the announcement that we have received, that announcement that has traveled through time, that announcement that changed the world history and can change the history of each person, now and forever. It is a simple announcement, a sentence that has an unlimited power: Christ is risen!.
But it is the proximity of these men and women with Christ, their concrete knowledge of Jesus and his teachings, the only thing that opened the way of the faith to them. And men and women of this day and age are also receiving the gift of the Spirit, promised by Jesus to his disciples to give them a new heart and new eyes, to allow them to be witnesses of the love of God to the four corners of the earth.
We, too, the day we were baptized, when we were made one with Christ in the mystery of his death and resurrection, we received that same Spirit, and in light of this gift, like the first disciples, we are called to live as resurrected , as new men and women. Celebrating Easter will then mean to enter with Christ the mystery of a love that goes to the end, without reserves, starting from those people who are close to us. This is resurrection: love. Love yourself, other people, the world , and above all, love Jesus Christ.