This year too we are close to Easter, to the Resurrection of the Lord, who is alive, alive, alive!
In these days, especially Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday, Easter night, we relive what Jesus left us in the last hours, in the last days of His life. These are all things that are fundamental, essential and profound for a Christian.
What did Jesus leave us in these days? The first thing: Holy Thursday. He left us the sense of the vocation that we have: service, service, service. Gospel of John: Jesus takes a basin, fills it with water and washes the feet of the disciples. Something that only slaves did, people who were worthless. Then he says to his disciples and to all of us: if I, the Lord, the Master wash your feet, you must do the same. The vocation must become a service to others. The mission must become a service to others. This point is fundamental in the Gospel. Jesus’ mission was a service to all of us, he made himself a slave to all of us to save us and transmit to us all the good of God the Father. The first thing that the Lord teaches us deeply: your mission must grow, grow, must grow to better serve your brothers, your sisters and the whole world. Second thing: the supper. Then Jesus, say the apostles, the only witnesses of this fact, Jesus takes a loaf of bread and says something strange on the bread: this is my Body given up for you. Do this in the memory of me. After the dinner, a cup of wine, the same. A strange thing, strange words: This is the cup of my blood for the new and eternal covenant, offered, shed for you and for all, for the multitude, for the remission of sins. Then again: do this in memory of me. He left us the memorial of His death and resurrection. Jesus died once and for all. Jesus rose once and for all. Memorial means: Jesus today, here actualizes again, actualizes the profound meaning of His death and resurrection. Memorial, which Jesus repeats twice in the words of consecration, of the transformation of bread and wine: memorial means actualization of His death and resurrection. With this actualization Jesus always remains with us in every part of the world, always with us in every part of the world! And we always celebrate the memorial of His death and resurrection.
What else has He left us in these days? His death on the cross, on Good Friday. That death that has a profound meaning. He, the Lord Jesus took upon himself, the sins of the world. He took upon himself all the sins. Those that I have done, those that you have done, those that I do, those that you do, those that you will do, those that I will do. They are all there. The Lord is not like us, he is great, he is immensely great. Those words of the Old Testament: even if your sins were very great, redder than purple, I am greater than your sins. Here is Jesus: He took them upon Himself and by dying He made them all die. Here is Paul who writes: He who was without sin, God made him sin for us. And on the cross, Jesus by dying destroyed, eliminated all our sins, once and for all, once and for all, once and for all as the Letter to the Hebrews repeats several times. On the cross, Jesus saved us. He is my Redeemer, He is your Redeemer, He is my Savior, He is your Savior.
What has He done then in these days? He is risen, He is alive! And Peter, when he preaches, will say: I have seen Him, I have spoken with Him, I have eaten with Him. Alive, alive, alive! And the living Jesus always accompanies us. He has reopened for us the way of life, of resurrection, of immortality. Lost by humanity in Adam. He has reopened for us this incredible door of access to God who is His Father and our Father. He makes us live, live, live forever. Here is the Lord’s Easter. Celebrating the memorial of His death and resurrection, celebrating the memorial of His new life that He gives to all of us, celebrating the memorial of His passion on the cross, where He forgave all sins.
Let us approach with pleasure, with trust, let us approach with a hope that is certainty that in the Lord, we in this Easter can rediscover the path of holiness and we can enter a path that grows, grows, grows in responsibility, in holiness and in grace.
Blessed Easter to all!
