And it will be a season with neither flights, nor escapes, nor spiritualisms, but marked by the feeling of the resurrection in one’s own existence, in history, in the present time, so that the Easter faith may get already effective here and in the present time. What does this mean according to the Gospels? It means that believers have to show the resurrection in the community of men, they have to narrate to men that life is stronger than death. They have to do this by building a community no longer based on the “I” but on the “We,” by forgiving without asking for reciprocity. They have to do this through the deep joy which persists in pressure situations, through the sympathy for each creature, above all the poorest ones, the sufferers, through justice which leads to bring freedom from those situations of death in which many people lay. They gave to do this by accepting to spend one’s life for the other men, by giving up self-assertion without the consideration of the others or against them, by giving one’s own life freely and because of love, to the point of praying even for murderers.

As a matter of fact this is exactly the heart of the Christian faith: to believe the unbelievable, to love those who are unlovable, to hope when there is no more hope left. Yes, faith, hope and love are possible only if we believe in the resurrection. Then, indeed our last word will be neither death nor hell, but the victory over death and hell. Easter opens up the horizon of eternal life for everybody. May this Easter be a Easter of hope for everybody, really for everybody!

Translated from:

ENZO BIANCHI
{link_prodotto:id=320}, Le feste cristiane
Edizioni Qiqajon, 2003, pp. 93-96.