1. Shine upon us, Lord, the light of your face! (cf. Ps 4:7)

With such words the Church prays in today's liturgy. He asks for divine light. He asks for the gift of knowing the Truth. He asks for faith.

Faith is the knowledge of the Truth, which comes from the testimony of God himself.

At the centre of our faith is the resurrection of Christ, through which God Himself bore witness to the Crucified One. The testimony of the Living God confirmed in the resurrection the truth of the Gospel, which Jesus of Nazareth proclaimed. He has confirmed the truth of all his works and words. He confirmed the truth of his mission. The resurrection gave the final and most complete expression of that messianic power, which was in Jesus Christ. Truly he is the one sent by God. And divine is the word that comes from his lips.

When, today, the third Sunday of Easter, we invoke: "Let the light of your countenance shine upon us, O Lord" (cf. Ps 4:7), we ask that through Christ's resurrection, faith may be renewed in us, illuminating the paths of our lives and directing them towards the Living God.

2. At the same time, the liturgy [...] shows us how this faith was built - and continues to be built - which, being a true gift from God, has at the same time its human dimension and form.

The resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth is the main source of irradiation of this light, from which the knowledge of God's revealed Truth develops in us. The knowledge and acceptance of it as divine truth.

To form the human dimension of faith, Christ himself chose witnesses of the resurrection from among men. These witnesses were to become those who from the beginning were bound to him as disciples, from among whom he alone had chosen the Twelve and made them his apostles.

To them too Jesus of Nazareth, to them who were witnesses of his death on the cross, he appeared alive after his resurrection. He spoke to them and in various ways convinced them of the identity of his person, of the reality of his human body.

"Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your heart? Look at my hands and my feet: it is indeed me! Touch me and see; a ghost has no flesh and bones as you see that I have" (Lk 24:38-39).

Thus he spoke to them when "amazed and frightened they thought they saw a ghost" (Lk 24:37).

"But because for great joy they still did not believe and were astonished, he said, 'Have you anything to eat here?' They offered him a portion of roasted fish; he took it and ate it before them" (Lk 24:41-43).

Thus the host of resurrection witnesses was formed. They were the men who personally knew Christ, heard his words, saw his works, experienced his death on the cross, and afterwards saw him alive and conversed with him as with a living person after the resurrection.

3. When these men, the apostles and disciples of the Lord, having received the Holy Spirit, began to speak publicly of Christ, when they began to proclaim him to men (first in Jerusalem) they first referred to the commonly known facts.

You "handed him over and denied him before Pilate, while he had decided to set him free" - so said Peter to the inhabitants of Jerusalem - you instead denied the Holy and Righteous One, you asked for a murderer to be pardoned" (i.e. Barabbas)! (Acts 3:13-14).

From the events surrounding Christ's death the speaker moves on to the resurrection: "...you killed the author of life. But God raised him from the dead, and of this we are witnesses" (Acts 3:15).

Peter speaks alone - but at the same time he speaks on behalf of the whole apostolic college: "we are witnesses" (Acts 3:15). And he adds: "Now brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders" (Acts 3:17).

4. From the description of the events, from the testimony of the resurrection, the apostle moves on to prophetic exegesis.

To such an exegesis of death and resurrection his disciples had been prepared by Christ himself.

We have proof of this in the encounter described in today's Gospel (according to Luke). The Risen One says to the disciples: "These are the words I spoke to you while I was still with you: all things written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled" (Lk 24:44).

"... And he said: Thus it is written: Christ shall suffer and rise from the dead the third day, and in his name shall be preached to all nations repentance and forgiveness of sins, beginning from Jerusalem. Of this you are witnesses' (Lk 24:46-48).

And the evangelist adds: "Then he opened their minds to the understanding of the Scriptures" (Lk 24:45).

From Peter's speech taken from the Acts of the Apostles, which we read in today's liturgy, we see how effective this "opening of their minds" was.Peter, after presenting the events connected with the death and resurrection of Christ, continues: "But God has thus fulfilled what he had foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would die. Repent therefore and change your lives that your sins may be blotted out..." (Acts 3:18-20).

We find in these words of the apostle the clear echo of Christ's words: of the illumination, which the disciples experienced in their encounter with the Risen Lord.

Thus the faith of the first generation of Christ's confessors was built: of the generation of the apostles' disciples. It sprang directly from the declaration of the eyewitnesses of the Cross and Resurrection.

5. What does it mean to be a Christian?

It means: continuing to accept the testimony of the Apostles, eyewitnesses. It means: believing with the same faith, which was born in them from the works and words of the Risen Lord.

The Apostle John writes (this is the second reading of today's liturgy): "By this we know that we have known him (i.e. Christ) if we keep his commandments. He who says, "I know him" and does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but he who keeps his word, in him the love of God is truly perfect" (1 John 2: 3-5).

The Apostle speaks of living faith. Faith is alive through works that conform to it. These are the works of charity. Faith is alive through the love of God. Love is expressed in the keeping of the commandments. There can be no contradiction between knowledge ("I know him") and the actions of a confessor of Christ. Only he who completes his faith with works remains in the truth.

Thus the Apostle John addresses the recipients of his first letter with the affectionate word "little children", and invites them "not to sin" (cf. 1 John 2:1). At the same time, however, he writes: 'But if anyone has sinned, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is a victim of atonement for our sins: not only for our own, but also for those of the whole world' (1Jn 2:1f).

John, apostle and evangelist, proclaims in the words of his letter, written towards the end of the first century, the same truth that Peter proclaimed shortly after the Lord's ascension. This is the truth about conversion and the remission of sins by the power of Christ's death and resurrection.

6. What does it mean to be a Christian?

Being a Christian - today in the same way as then, in the first generation of Christ's confessors - means continuing to accept the testimony of the apostles, who were eyewitnesses. It means believing with the same faith, which was born in them from the works and words of Christ, confirmed by his death and resurrection.

We, too, belonging to the present generation of confessors of Christ, must ask to have the same experience as the two disciples of Emmaus: "Lord Jesus, make us understand the Scriptures; may our hearts burn in our breasts when you speak to us" (cf. Lk 24:32).

Let the heart "burn"!: because faith cannot be just a cold calculation of the intellect. It must be vivified by love. Living through the works in which the truth revealed by God is expressed as the inner truth of man.

Then we too - even if we were not eyewitnesses of the works and words, death and resurrection - inherit from the Apostles their testimony. And we ourselves also become witnesses of Christ.

To be a Christian is also to be a witness to Christ.

7. Then also faith - living faith - is formed as a dialogue between the Living God and the living man; of this dialogue we find some expressions in the Psalm of today's liturgy: "When I call upon you, answer me, God, / my righteousness: / from anguish you have delivered me; / mercy on me, hear my prayer" (Ps 4:2). "...the Lord hears me when I call upon him. / Tremble and do not sin, / On your bed reflect and be appeased. / Offer sacrifices of righteousness / and trust in the Lord. / Many say, "Who will make us see good?"Let the light of thy countenance shine upon us, O Lord; / Thou hast put more joy in my heart / than when wine and wheat abound; / In peace I lay me down, and straightway I fall asleep: / Thou alone, O Lord, in safety make me rest" (Ps 4:4-9).

And the psalmist himself adds: "Know that the Lord does wonders for his faithful" (Ps 4:4).

[Pope John Paul II, homily to Sts. Marcellinus and Peter 25 April 1982]

At the centre [...] there is the encounter with the Risen One experienced by his disciples, all together. This is evidenced especially by the Gospel which introduces us once again to the Upper Room, where Jesus manifests himself to the Apostles, addressing this greeting to them: “Peace to you” (Lk 24:36). It is the greeting of the Risen Christ, who gives us peace: “Peace to you!”. It is a matter of both inner peace and the peace that is established in interpersonal relationships. The episode recounted by Luke the Evangelist rests heavily on the realism of the Resurrection. Jesus is not a spirit. Indeed, it is not about an apparition of Jesus’ spirit, but of his real presence with his risen body.

Jesus realizes that the Apostles are unsettled in seeing him, that they are bewildered because the reality of the Resurrection is inconceivable to them. They believe they are seeing a spirit; but the Risen Jesus is not a spirit; he is a man with body and soul. This is why, in order to convince them, he says to them: “See my hands and my feet” — he shows them his wounds — “that it is I myself; handle me, and see; for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see that I have” (v. 39). And since this did not seem enough to overcome the disciples’ disbelief — the Gospel says something interesting: there was so much joy they had within that this joy prevented them from believing it: ‘No, it cannot be! It cannot be so! So much joy is not possible!’. And Jesus, in order to convince them, asks them: “Have you anything here to eat?” (v. 41). They offer him some broiled fish; Jesus takes and eats it in front of them, in order to convince them.

Jesus’ insistence on the reality of his Resurrection illuminates the Christian perspective of the body: the body is not an obstacle nor a prison of the soul. The body is created by God, and mankind is not complete if there is no union of body and soul. Jesus, who has triumphed over death and risen in body and soul, helps us to understand that we must have a positive idea of our body. It can become an occasion or instrument of sin, but sin is not provoked by the body, but rather by our moral weakness. The body is a wondrous gift from God, intended, in union with the soul, to express in fullness the image and likeness of Him. Therefore, we are called to have great respect and care for our body and that of others.

Any offense or wound or violence to the body of our neighbour is an affront to God the Creator! My thoughts go, in particular, to the children, the women, the elderly who are physically abused. In the flesh of these people we find the Body of Christ. Christ wounded, mocked, slandered, humiliated, scourged, crucified.... Jesus taught us love. A love that, in his Resurrection, is demonstrated to be more powerful than sin and death, and seeks to redeem all those who experience in their own body the slavery of our time.

In a world where too often self-importance prevails over the weakest and materialism stifles the spirit, today’s Gospel passage calls us to be people capable of looking deeply, full of wonder and great joy at having encountered the Risen Lord. It calls us to be people who know how to welcome and appreciate the novelty of life that He sows in history, in order to direct it toward new heavens and the new land. May we be sustained in this journey by the Virgin Mary, to whose maternal intercession we entrust ourselves with faith.

[Pope Francis, Regina Coeli 15 April 2018]

(Lk 24:13-35)

After first persecutions (64), the bloody civil war in Rome (68-69) and the destruction of Jerusalem’s Temple (70), the empire rebels tended to decrease - together with the second generation Christians, direct witnesses of the Apostolic teaching.

In this reality, completely new and threatened by the danger of routine, perhaps more than a dozen years after the fall of Masada (73), Lk draws up a Gospel for converted Hellenists - but educated to the ideal of a ‘Greek man’.

Its purpose was to put a stop to defections, encourage new faithful, allow those who were culturally distant to have a living experience of the Lord.

The Risen One has a Life that is no longer subject to the senses, because Full.

Now it is the community that manifests Him Present [or - unfortunately - useless and absent].

Conditioned by a false vision inoculated by bad teachers and pagan values, the disciples still felt bewildered in the face of “failure”.

The expectations of religion, of philosophies, of life in the empire, made them gloomy and disoriented during the tests of Faith.

Everyone was waiting for the «divine man»: ruler, possessor, revered, avenger, titled and super-affirmed. Able to drag his associates to the same “fortune”.

Lk overturns the banal perspective, because within each of us there is an innate wisdom, sometimes suffocated by external ideas, but different.

Only another intelligence of the Holy Scriptures that still resound full of critical prophecy - warms our hearts and makes us recognizable in Christ.

Wisdom that is combined with the quality of life experienced in a multifaceted and indigent fraternity, but which does not abandon anyone.

In fact, in the authentic church, the synergy of differences and opposite sides configures a ‘new covenant’; opens the eyes to all, intensely manifesting the Son.

And the Risen One does not cling to the latest arrivals in a paternalistic way (vv.28.31) but calls with confidence to reinterpret Him in love, without borders and identified roles.

His Presence in spirit and deed allows anyone a coined-broken life caliber without prior conditions of completion.

Hence the Return (v.33) and personal Announcement (v.35), instead of indifference or flight.

The passage from Lk is one of the most profound testimonies of the Passover of Jesus.

The tragedy of the Cross frightens, so does failure. But we do not frankly meet the Lord as an executioner, or in the fervor of a victorious war.

Christ is not a colonel. Liberator yes.

The new dreamed order will not be artificial, procedural, external; nor achieved with military triumph: it would disown Him.

We meet the Risen One outside the tomb, we grasp Him on a journey and in the authentic meaning of the «living Scriptures»; in the «Bread breaking» that illuminates the sense of ecclesial life.

We personally «see» the ‘Son raised’, building up the new community of disciples that blossom because of the reverses - so that the sisters and brothers can also meet with Easter.

Apostles not lost in history.

In their «incessant beginning» there is a ‘discovery’ and something special, abnormal, irrepressible; that lays continuous foundations.

To internalize and live the message:

When have you experienced a Jesus who gently approaches and takes your step? Is the Cross a catastrophe for you?

[Wednesday between the Easter Octave, April 8, 2026]

Especially in this Octave of Easter the liturgy invites us to meet the Risen One personally and to recognize his life-giving action in the events of history and in our daily lives. This Wednesday, for example, the moving episode of the two disciples of Emmaus is presented to us once again (cf. Lk 24: 13-35). After Jesus' crucifixion, immersed in sadness and disappointment, they were going home dejected. On their way, they discussed the events that had occurred in those days in Jerusalem; it was then that Jesus approached and began to talk to them and teach them: "O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?" (Lk 24: 25-26). Then starting with Moses and all the prophets, he explained to them what referred to him in all the Scriptures. Christ's teaching - the explanation of the prophecies - was like an unexpected revelation to the disciples of Emmaus, enlightening and comforting. Jesus gave them a new key for interpreting the Bible and everything then appeared clear, oriented to that very moment. Won over by the words of the unknown wayfarer, they invited him to stop and have supper with them. And he accepted and sat down to table with them. The Evangelist Luke says: "When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it, and gave it to them" (Lk 24: 30). And it was at that very moment that the eyes of the two disciples were opened and they recognized him, but "he vanished out of their sight" (Lk 24: 31). And full of wonder and joy they commented: "Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?" (Lk 24: 32).

Throughout the liturgical year, particularly in Holy Week and Easter Week, the Lord walks beside us and explains the Scriptures to us, makes us understand this mystery: everything speaks of him. And this should also make our hearts burn within us, so that our eyes too may be opened. The Lord is with us, he shows us the true path. Just as the two disciples recognized Jesus in the breaking of the bread, so today, in the breaking of the bread, let us too recognize his presence. The disciples of Emmaus recognized him and remembered the times when Jesus had broken the bread. And this breaking of the bread reminds us of the first Eucharist celebrated in the context of the Last Supper, when Jesus broke the bread and thus anticipated his death and Resurrection by giving himself to the disciples. Jesus also breaks bread with us and for us, he makes himself present with us in the Holy Eucharist, he gives us himself and opens our hearts. In the Holy Eucharist, in the encounter with his Word, we too can meet and know Jesus at this two-fold Table of the Word and of the consecrated Bread and Wine. Every Sunday the community thus relives the Lord's Passover and receives from the Saviour his testament of love and brotherly service. Dear brothers and sisters, may the joy of these days strengthen our faithful attachment to the Crucified and Risen Christ. Above all, may we let ourselves be won over by the fascination of his Resurrection. May Mary help us to be messengers of the light and joy of Easter for all our brethren. Once again, I wish you all a Happy Easter.

[Pope Benedict, General Audience 26 March 2008]

2. Dear brothers and sisters! We too, at this hour, pray to the Lord: "Stay with us, for it is becoming evening and the day is already drawing to a close" (Lk 24:29). May this invitation that the disciples of Emmaus address to the Lord guide our festive liturgy today; indeed, the Gospel of this third Easter Sunday leads us on the road to Emmaus. This place is of great importance in the context of the Easter events: it is a place of encounter with Christ, a place of the apparition of the risen Lord.

In the interpretation of the Old Testament peoples, the Passover feast commemorates the "passage" of the Lord, the exodus of the Israelites from the "house of bondage" of Egypt on the way to the promised land. God himself leads, liberates and saves his people. At the beginning of this exodus there had been the sign of the lamb: its blood would mark the houses of the Israelites and save their inhabitants from the punishment of death; its flesh refreshed the Israelites at the last supper before departure.

Animated by this faith of their people, the two disciples of Emmaus had participated in the Passover feast of the Jews of Jerusalem, and had also witnessed the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. When, on the way back, the Lord had appeared to them without them immediately recognising him, he explained to them how the paschal feast of the new covenant had been foretold in the events of the Old Testament; namely, in the exodus from bondage to freedom. This exodus is now fulfilled in the passage from death to life, from sin to friendship with God. And this again happens with the help of a lamb: the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. Moses and the prophets, even the whole of Scripture, already speak of him and his destiny. That is why the risen Lord could rightly ask: "Did not Christ have to endure these sufferings in order to enter into his glory?" (Lk 24:25f.).

3. Indeed, many statements in the Old Testament predict the events of the Last Supper and Golgotha. These announcements, however, would not have been fulfilled if the paschal events had not taken place at the time and in the manner predetermined by God in Jerusalem. And in spite of all this, Jesus' disciples did not immediately recognise the dramatic and touching event they experienced with their Master during the Passover feast of the Jews in its true meaning and deepest truth. They found it difficult to "believe the word of the prophets" (Lk 24:25f.). This truth was so difficult to recognise for them, who were accustomed to a different understanding of the sacred Scriptures. Why should the Messiah have suffered, been condemned and died on the cross, been despised and mocked as an outcast? Thus, at first, they are as if blinded, discouraged and sad, as if paralysed.

For man it is and will always remain incomprehensible why the way to salvation must pass through suffering. This is why the encounter on the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus is so significant; not only in relation to the Easter events of that time, but for all time - also for us. On this path, the disciples learned from Jesus a new way of reading the sacred scriptures and discovering in them a prophetic testimony about him, a prediction about him, his message and his mission of salvation. Through this teaching, the disciples are instructed by the Lord himself to become his witnesses. Thus Peter, in today's liturgy, bears witness to the Lord's resurrection from this new, deeper understanding of the Easter event before men. In this light of Christ, of the Risen One, he also understands and announces David's psalm: "For you will not forsake my soul in hell" (Acts 2:27).

When Jesus reveals the true meaning of the sacred Scripture to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, the apostles who are in Jerusalem already know, that this psalm has been concretely realised: "Truly the Lord is risen and has appeared to Simon" (Lk 24:26).

4. The encounter on the road to Emmaus is also of great importance because in this way Jesus emphasised to his disciples, after his death on the cross, that he remains with them. He is with them in spite of or precisely because of the Friday passion and will remain with his Church forever according to his promise: "I will not leave you orphans I will return to you" (Jn 14:18).

Christ is not only who he was, but much more who he is. He was present on the road to Emmaus, and he is also present on all the paths of the world, along which his disciples walk, across generations and centuries.

5. Dear brothers and sisters! From the encounter with the risen Lord on the road to Emmaus, new light descended for the two disciples on the sacred Scriptures and the events of Calvary, new light descended in the darkness of their own lives. Light also descends on the history and destinies of humanity and the Church, and thus also on the Church in Augsburg. Christ showed how the Messiah "had" to suffer, in order to fulfil his saving mission. Is it not true that it is precisely in this light that we are sometimes able to see and understand the darkness and suffering that Christ's disciples and the Church have faced on their journey through history? Through it we are often able to recognise, in trials and sufferings, the good and caring hand of God, which through the experience of the cross leads us to salvation and resurrection.

[Pope John Paul II, homily in Augsburg 3 May 1987

Today’s Gospel, which takes place on the day of the Passover, describes the episode of the two disciples of Emmaus (Lk 24:13-35). It is a story that begins and ends on the move. There is in fact, the outbound journey of the disciples who, saddened by the epilogue of Jesus’ story, leave Jerusalem and return home to Emmaus, walking some 11 kilometres. It is a journey that takes place during the day, much of it downhill. And there is the return journey: another 11 kilometres, but at nightfall, partly an uphill journey after the fatigue of the outward journey and the entire day. Two trips: one easy in daytime, and the other tiring at night. Yet the first takes place in sadness, the second in joy. In the first one, there is the Lord walking beside them, but they do not recognise him; in the second one they do not see him anymore, but they feel him near them. In the first they are discouraged and hopeless; in the second they run to bring the good news of the encounter with the Risen Jesus to the others.

The two different paths of those first disciples tell us, Jesus’ disciples today, that in life we have two opposite directions before us: there is the path of those who, like those two on the outbound journey, allow themselves to be paralysed by life’s disappointments and proceed sadly; and there is the path of those who do not put themselves and their problems first, but rather Jesus who visits us, and the brothers who await his visit, that is, our brothers who are waiting for us to take care of them. Here is the turning point: to stop orbiting around one’s self; the disappointments of the past, the unrealised ideals, the many bad things that have happened in our life. Very often we tend to keep going around and around.... To leave that behind and to go forward looking at the greatest and truest reality of life: Jesus lives, Jesus loves me. This is the greatest reality. And I can do something for others. It is a beautiful reality: positive, bright, beautiful! This is the turning point: to go from thoughts about I to the reality of my God; going — with another play on words — from “if” [se in Italian] to “yes” [sì in Italian]. From “if” to “yes”. What does this mean? “If he had freed us, if God had listened to me, if life had gone as I wanted, if I had this and that…”, in a tone of complaint. This “if” is not helpful, it is not fruitful. It helps neither us nor others. Here are our “ifs”, similar to those of the two disciples, whom however, move to a yes: “Yes, the Lord is alive, he walks with us. Yes, we continue our journey to announce it now, not tomorrow”. “Yes, I can do this for the people so that they may be happier, so that people may better themselves, to help many people. Yes, yes I can”. From “if” to “yes”, from complaints to joy and peace, because when we complain, we are not joyful; we are in the grey, greyness, that grey air of sadness. And this does not help nor allow us to grow well. From “if” to “yes”; from complaints to the joy of service.

How did this change of pace, from “I” to “God”, from “if” to “yes”, occur within the disciples? By meeting Jesus: the two disciples of Emmaus first open their hearts to him, then they listen to him explain the Scriptures and then they invite him home. These are three steps that we too can take in our homes: first, opening our hearts to Jesus, entrusting him with the burdens, the hardships, the disappointments of life, entrusting the “ifs” to him, and then, the second step, listening to Jesus, taking the Gospel in hand, reading this passage in chapter 24 of Luke’s Gospel on this very day; third, praying to Jesus, in the same words as those disciples: “Lord, ‘stay with us’ (v. 29). Lord, stay with me. Lord, stay with all of us, because we need you to find the way”. And without you, there is night.

Dear brothers and sisters, we are always journeying in life. And we become what we go towards. Let us choose the way of God, not of self; the way of “yes”, not the way of “if”. We will discover that there are no unexpected events, no uphill path, no night that cannot be faced with Jesus. May Our Lady, Mother of the journey, who by receiving the Word made her entire life a “yes” to God, show us the way.

[Pope Francis, Regina Coeli 26 April 2020]

The Easter Triduum and Easter [2–5 April 2026]

Holy Week, the most important week of the year for us Christians, allows believers to immerse themselves in the central events of the Redemption by reliving the Paschal Mystery, the great Mystery of faith. These are the days of the Easter Triduum, the fulcrum of the entire liturgical year, which help us to open our hearts to an understanding of the priceless gift that is the salvation obtained for us through Christ’s sacrifice. This immense gift is recounted in a famous hymn contained in the Letter to the Philippians (cf. 2:6–11), which we often have the opportunity to meditate upon during Lent. In it, Saint Paul traces the entire mystery of the history of salvation, alluding to the pride of Adam who, though not God, wanted to be like God. And he contrasts this pride of the first man—which we all feel to some extent within ourselves—with the humility of the true Son of God who, by becoming man, did not hesitate to take upon himself all the weaknesses of the human being, except sin, and went as far as the depths of death. This descent into the ultimate depths of passion and death is then followed by his exaltation, true glory, the glory of love that went to the very end. And it is therefore fitting – as Paul says – that ‘at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess: Jesus Christ is Lord!’ (2:10-1). St Paul alludes, with these words, to a prophecy of Isaiah where God says: ‘I am the Lord; let every knee bow before me in heaven and on earth’ (cf. Is 45:23). This, says Paul, applies to Jesus Christ. He truly, in his humility, in the true greatness of his love, is the Lord of the world, and before him every knee truly bows. How wonderful, and at the same time surprising, is this mystery! We can never meditate sufficiently on this reality. Jesus, though he was God, did not wish to make his divine prerogatives an exclusive possession; he did not wish to use his divinity, his glorious dignity and his power, as an instrument of triumph and a sign of distance from us. On the contrary, ‘he emptied himself’ by taking on the wretched and weak human condition – Paul uses, in this regard, a very evocative Greek verb to indicate the kénosis, this descent of Jesus. The divine form (morphé) was hidden in Christ under the human form, that is, under our reality marked by suffering, poverty, our human limitations and death. This radical and true sharing in our nature—sharing in everything except sin—led him to that frontier which is the sign of our finitude: death. Yet all this was not the result of some obscure mechanism or blind fate: rather, it was his free choice, born of a generous adherence to the Father’s plan of salvation. And the death he faced – adds Paul – was that of the cross, the most humiliating and degrading one imaginable. All this the Lord of the universe accomplished out of love for us: out of love he chose to ‘empty himself’ and become our brother; out of love he shared our condition, that of every man and every woman. A great witness of the Eastern tradition, Theodoret of Cyrus, writes on this subject: ‘Being God and God by nature, and being equal with God, he did not regard this as something to be grasped, as do those who have received some honour beyond their merits, but, hiding his merits, he chose the deepest humility and took the form of a human being’ (Commentary on the Epistle to the Philippians, 2:6–7).

Let us now pause to reflect briefly on the various moments of the Easter Triduum. The prelude to the Easter Triduum, with the evocative afternoon rites of Holy Thursday, is the solemn Chrism Mass, which the Bishop celebrates in the morning with his presbyterate, and during which the priestly promises made on the day of Ordination are renewed together. It is a gesture of great significance, a most propitious occasion on which priests reaffirm their fidelity to Christ, who has chosen them as his ministers. Also during the Chrism Mass, the oil of the sick and the oil of catechumens will be blessed, and the Chrism will be consecrated. These rites symbolically signify the fullness of Christ’s Priesthood and that ecclesial communion which must animate the Christian people, gathered for the Eucharistic sacrifice and enlivened in unity by the gift of the Holy Spirit.

In the afternoon Mass, known as the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, the Church commemorates the institution of the Eucharist, the ministerial priesthood and the new commandment of charity, left by Jesus to his disciples. Saint Paul offers one of the earliest accounts of what took place in the Upper Room on the eve of the Lord’s Passion. ‘The Lord Jesus,’ he writes in the early 1950s, drawing on a text he received from the Lord’s own circle, ‘on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and having given thanks, broke it and said: “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me”. In the same way, after supper, he also took the cup, saying: “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me” (1 Cor 11:23–25). Words steeped in mystery, which clearly reveal Christ’s will: under the species of bread and wine, He makes Himself present with His body given and His blood shed. It is the sacrifice of the new and definitive covenant offered to all, without distinction of race or culture. And for this sacramental rite, which He entrusts to the Church as the supreme proof of His love, Jesus appoints as ministers His disciples and all those who will continue His ministry throughout the centuries. Holy Thursday is therefore a renewed invitation to give thanks to God for the supreme gift of the Eucharist, to be received with devotion and adored with living faith. For this reason, the Church encourages us, after the celebration of Holy Mass, to keep vigil in the presence of the Most Holy Sacrament, recalling the sorrowful hour that Jesus spent in solitude and prayer in Gethsemane, before being arrested and subsequently condemned to death.

Good Friday is the day of the Lord’s Passion and Crucifixion. Every year, as we stand in silence before Jesus hanging on the wood of the cross, we sense how full of love are the words He spoke the evening before, during the Last Supper. “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many” (cf. Mk 14:24). Jesus wished to offer His life as a sacrifice for the forgiveness of humanity’s sins. Just as with the Eucharist, so too with the Passion and death of Jesus on the Cross, the mystery becomes unfathomable to reason. We are faced with something that, from a human perspective, might seem absurd: a God who not only becomes man, with all the needs of man, not only suffers to save man by taking upon himself the full weight of humanity’s tragedy, but dies for man.

Christ’s death recalls the accumulation of pain and evil that weighs upon humanity in every age: the crushing burden of our mortality, the hatred and violence that still today stain the earth with blood. The Lord’s Passion continues in the sufferings of mankind. As Blaise Pascal rightly writes, ‘Jesus will be in agony until the end of the world; we must not sleep during this time’ (Pensées, 553). If Good Friday is a day full of sadness, it is at the same time a day more propitious than ever for reawakening our faith, for strengthening our hope and the courage to carry our own cross with humility, trust and surrender to God, certain of his support and his victory. The liturgy of this day sings: O Crux, ave, spes unica – Hail, O Cross, our only hope!

This hope is nourished in the great silence of Holy Saturday, as we await the resurrection of Jesus. On this day, the churches are stripped bare and no special liturgical rites are scheduled. The Church keeps vigil in prayer like Mary and together with Mary, sharing her same feelings of sorrow and trust in God. It is rightly recommended that a prayerful atmosphere, conducive to meditation and reconciliation, be maintained throughout the day; the faithful are encouraged to approach the Sacrament of Penance, so that they may participate in the Easter celebrations truly renewed.

The recollection and silence of Holy Saturday will lead us through the night to the solemn Easter Vigil, ‘the mother of all vigils’, when the song of joy for Christ’s Resurrection will burst forth in all churches and communities. Once again, the victory of light over darkness, of life over death, will be proclaimed, and the Church will rejoice in her encounter with her Lord. Thus we shall enter into the spirit of the Easter of the Resurrection.

Let us prepare ourselves to live the Holy Triduum intensely, so that we may participate ever more deeply in the Mystery of Christ. The Blessed Virgin accompanies us on this journey; she followed her Son Jesus in silence to Calvary, sharing in his sacrifice with great sorrow, thus cooperating in the mystery of Redemption and becoming the Mother of all believers (cf. Jn 19:25–27). Together with Mary, we shall enter the Upper Room, we shall remain at the foot of the Cross, we shall keep vigil in spirit beside the dead Christ, awaiting with hope the dawn of the radiant day of the Resurrection. In this spirit, I offer you all, even at this early stage, my warmest wishes for a joyful and holy Easter, which I ask you to extend to your families, your parishes and your communities.

+Giovanni D’Ercole

Fossilized in reminiscences, or Announced by Brethren

(Jn 20:11-18)

Mk tells of a young man dressed in white, Mt of an angel, Lk of two men dressed in white, Jn of two angels.

The stories on the annunciation and on the heralds of the Resurrection do not fit together according to our way of telling.

To avoid a limited view on the victory of Life, it is appropriate to understand that we are not celebrating the week of the apparitions of the Risen One, but of his Manifestations [Greek text].

He does not appear only to some - to others He does not: manifests itself. We experience Him.

And there is a new Creation: now we do not recognize Jesus when we see, but when we ‘listen’ Him (v.16).

The Lord makes himself ‘seen’ not in the moment of the vision, but in the time of the Word, of the personal Appeal that «turns» the gaze from the irrelevant direction of travel that clings to the image of "yesterday".

The experience of the living Christ excludes the memories to be kept crying.

It is a current and well-founded relationship, convincing, multifaceted and accessible - direct.

The very observance of ancient law [v.1: in the particular case, the sabbath] seems to delay the experience of the disruptive force of rebirth, in the Spirit.

Gradually, in the first communities those personal primordial energies were being reactivated that not even the blackmail, intimidation and marginalization of the institutional apparatus could touch.

The faithful were on the virtuous and exciting wave of a further fundamental change: now they felt «brothers» of the Risen One (v.17).

The ‘discipleship’ relation (Jn 13:13) growing in ‘friendship’ (Jn 15,15) were becoming that of the blood relatives who felt they were ‘sons’.

[Jn 1,11-12: «He came among his own, and his own did not welcome him. But to those who received him he gave them ‘power’ to become sons of God; to those who believe in his Name» - that is: adhering to all his word, story and action; also problematic, painful, denouncing].

Thus began the explicit Announcement, despite the fact that the truly vital and increasingly determined part of the "church" proved to be that wich was peripheral and came from the pagans [in the figure of Mary Magdalene].

Woman: authentic Assembly in the Spirit.

An endless field of humiliated people, who nevertheless in the Risen Christ «see themselves within» and are unblocked; by acquiring new breath, overcoming discouragement, disorientation, uncertainty.

Even today, the search for our Guide can also arise from the sense of loss, or from the beatings suffered - but it is marked by Easter encounters and stages of new awareness.

New Listens, which break the reassurances. The Risen is a radical novelty: a wound inside and an impulse.

Only in the experience of being «reborn by transmitting» Him, is the Spirit unleashed that thrills and charges - and the Living One does not remain a stranger or someone of whom we have already made up an idea.

There is an unprecedented situation.

But who notices? In spite of the neglect they suffer, only the bridal souls catch it - the very ones who are disregarded.

[Tuesday between the Octave of Easter, April 7, 2026]

The New Creation, from Hearing

(Jn 20:11-18)

"In those days, in Israel, the testimony of women could not have official, juridical value, but women experienced a special bond with the Lord, which is fundamental for the concrete life of the Christian community, and this always, in every age, not only at the beginning of the Church's journey" [Pope Benedict, Regina Coeli 9 April 2012].

Mk tells of a young man dressed in white, Mt of an angel, Lk of two men dressed in white, Jn of two angels.

The stories about the annunciation and the heralds of the Resurrection do not fit together according to our way of telling.

In order to avoid a limited view of the victory of Life, it should be understood that we are not celebrating the week of the apparitions of the Risen One, but of his Manifestations [Greek text].

It does not just appear to some - to others it does not (depending on the lottery): it manifests itself. We experience this.

And there is a new creation: now one does not recognise Jesus when one sees him, but when one hears him (v.16).

The Lord makes himself seen not in the moment of vision, but in the time of the Word, of the personal call that makes the ancient gaze "turn away" from the irrelevant direction that clings to the image of "yesterday".

The experience of the living Christ excludes memories to be wept over.

It is present and grounded, convincing, multifaceted and accessible - direct. Definitely better than that offered later by the apostles, without pierced hearts (or proclamations).

But the face-to-face still remained closed, to the extent that one seemed to be looking for dead or distant museum pieces - to be found almost as before and at best kept without too much shaking.

Conditioned by excessively "usual" expectations, we would claim to trace Jesus to the wrong campsites and places. But in Jn the Ascension is placed on the same day as Easter (v.17).

The very observance of archaic religious law [v.1: in the particular case, the Sabbath] seems to delay the experience of the disruptive power of rebirth, in the Spirit.

Gradually, those primordial personal energies were being reactivated in the first communities that not even the blackmail, intimidation and marginalisation of the institutional apparatus could touch.

The Incarnation continued, unfolding in the believers; awakening new creative states in them.

The faithful were on the virtuous and enthusiastic wave of a further fundamental change: they now felt themselves to be 'brothers' of the Risen One (v.17).

The relationship of 'discipleship' (Jn 13:13) grown into 'friendship' (Jn 15:15) became that of kinsmen who felt like 'sons'.

[Jn 1:11-12: "He came among his own, and his own received him not. But to those who received him, he gave them power to become children of God; to those who believe in his Name" - that is, adhere to his entire word, event and action; even problematic, painful, denunciation].

Thus began the explicit Announcement, despite the fact that the part of the "church" that was really vital and increasingly determined proved to be the peripheral and from the pagans [in the figure of Mary Magdalene].

They wanted the reviving redemption, and thus pointed the right way to the assembly leaders themselves.

The Judeo-Christian community of the apostles was in fact all out for compromise with the distant and conflicting religious institution, that of power, which had wanted to destroy the Master.

The 'apostolic' hard core always lagging behind and to be evangelised: he is converted only by the one who feels himself a nothing (vv.2.18). And when she becomes aware that the realm of dead things will no longer surround her.

Woman: Authentic Assembly in the Spirit.

A boundless field of the humiliated, which nevertheless in the Risen Christ "sees itself" and is unblocked; it acquires new breath, overcomes discouragement, disorientation, uncertainty.

Still filled with Infinity, like pilgrims, the dreamers from below and the periphery seek their way.

They are activated with passion, to rekindle and resonate every fold of the human being - previously commanded by a world of calculated alternatives.

It is again the experience of "Mary of Magdala", who, by gaining confidence, can complete the perceptions and thoughts of even the top of the class.

The Risen One is always somewhere else... than what the expert or an average religious soul not ready for change expects.

His Person has unforeseen physiognomies, unconventional and out of pattern - like life, all to be discovered.

These are unseen profiles - to be grasped and internalised, sometimes almost without a struggle.

Only a call by name - his direct Word, the personal Appeal - makes us realise that by external influence we were perhaps chasing a Lord [of the past, or fashionable] too recognisable, to be commemorated as before.

To be carried in the saddlebag as always, with closed and normal love, the child of sorrow.The search for our Rabbuni may also arise from a sense of loss, or from the beatings suffered - but it is marked by Easter encounters and stages of new awareness.

New listening, shattering reassurances.

He remains a lukewarm stranger - at room temperature - for those who allow themselves to be influenced by limited (packaged) ideas and pretend to understand him with knowledge, recognise him with their eyes, or use him as a sleeping pill.

The Risen One is radical newness: wounded within and impetus. An itinerary that embraces and takes on the whole of humanity and history.

He acts in us by shattering all security; the very security that still does not let us out of the small circle.

And while labouring in the tension of the elusive [that cannot be made one's own] it is in the excitement of perceiving the treasures of atypical and personal intuitions that regenerated life attracts and opens up, amazes.

It is only in the experience of being born again by transmitting it that the Spirit is unleashed and charged - and the Living One does not remain a stranger or someone of whom one has already formed an idea.

"I have sought and seen the Lord!" [v.18: sense of the Greek text].

We do not experience Christ with intimism, nor with reminiscences and trinkets; not even in a cerebral way or by being content to fulfil pious memorial offices on the body.

There is an unprecedented situation.

But who notices? In spite of the neglect they suffer, only the souls who are brides - the poorly regarded.

To internalise and live the message:

What transmutation took place in you and your neighbour when you accepted the Call and the invitation to the Announcement?

How did the Person of Christ make you aware that you are fully wanted: inalienable subject, by Name?

Personal Manifestation: a law we find carved into many pages of the Gospels. But... soft happiness or the wave that sweeps everything away?

In these weeks our reflection moves, as it were, in the orbit of the Paschal Mystery. Today we meet the one who, according to the Gospels, first saw the risen Jesus: Mary Magdalene. The Sabbath rest had recently ended. On the day of the passion, there had been no time to complete the funeral rites; that is why, in that dawn filled with sadness, the women go to Jesus' tomb with perfumed ointments. The first to arrive is her: Mary of Magdala, one of the disciples who had accompanied Jesus all the way from Galilee, putting herself at the service of the nascent Church. Her journey to the tomb mirrors the faithfulness of so many women who are devoted for years to the cemetery paths, in memory of someone who is no longer there. The most authentic bonds are not broken even by death: there are those who continue to love, even if the loved one is gone forever.

The gospel (cf. Jn 20:1-2, 11-18) describes Mary Magdalene by immediately making it clear that she was not a woman of easy enthusiasm. In fact, after the first visit to the tomb, she returns disappointed to the place where the disciples were hiding; she reports that the stone has been moved from the entrance of the tomb, and her first hypothesis is the simplest that can be formulated: someone must have stolen Jesus' body. So the first announcement that Mary brings is not that of the resurrection, but of a theft that unknown persons perpetrated, while all of Jerusalem slept.

Then the gospels tell of a second journey of Magdalene to Jesus' tomb. She was stubborn! She went, she came back ... because she was not convinced! This time her pace is slow, very heavy. Mary suffers doubly: first of all for the death of Jesus, and then for the inexplicable disappearance of his body.

It is while she is bending over by the tomb, her eyes filled with tears, that God surprises her in the most unexpected way. The evangelist John emphasises how persistent her blindness is: she does not notice the presence of two angels questioning her, nor does she become suspicious when she sees the man behind her, whom she thinks is the guardian of the garden. And instead she discovers the most shocking event in human history when she is finally called by name: "Mary!" (v. 16).

How beautiful it is to think that the first appearance of the Risen One - according to the gospels - happened in such a personal way! That there is someone who knows us, who sees our suffering and disappointment, and who is moved by us, and calls us by name. It is a law that we find engraved in many pages of the gospel. Around Jesus there are many people seeking God; but the most prodigious reality is that, much earlier, there is first of all God who cares for our lives, who wants to raise them up, and to do this he calls us by name, recognising the personal face of each one. Every man is a story of love that God writes on this earth. Each one of us is a story of God's love. Each of us God calls by name: he knows us by name, he looks at us, he waits for us, he forgives us, he has patience with us. Is it true or not? Each one of us has this experience.

And Jesus calls her: "Mary!"The revolution of his life, the revolution destined to transform the existence of every man and woman, begins with a name that echoes in the garden of the empty tomb. The gospels describe to us Mary's happiness: Jesus' resurrection is not a joy given with an eyedropper, but a cascade that invests one's whole life. Christian existence is not woven with fluffy happiness, but with waves that sweep over everything. Try to think too, in this instant, with the baggage of disappointments and defeats that each of us carries in our hearts, that there is a God close to us who calls us by name and says: "Get up, stop crying, because I have come to set you free!" This is beautiful.

Jesus is not one who adapts himself to the world, tolerating that in it death, sadness, hatred, the moral destruction of people endure... Our God is not inert, but our God - if I may say so - is a dreamer: he dreams of the transformation of the world, and he has achieved it in the mystery of the Resurrection.

Mary would like to embrace her Lord, but He is now oriented to the heavenly Father, while she is sent to take the announcement to her brothers and sisters. And so that woman, who before meeting Jesus was at the mercy of the evil one (cf. Lk 8:2), has now become an apostle of the new and greater hope. May his intercession help us to live this experience too: in the hour of weeping, and in the hour of abandonment, listen to the Risen Jesus who calls us by name, and with a heart full of joy go and proclaim: "I have seen the Lord!" (v. 18). I have changed my life because I have seen the Lord! Now I am different from before, I am a different person. I am changed because I have seen the Lord. This is our strength and this is our hope.

[Pope Francis, General Audience 17 May 2017].