In these difficult times, with terrible ongoing wars and civil conflicts, of tensions between States, of ruptured political balances and strategic alliances, of the primacy of individualism over the Common Good, of technological and ethical challenges, of contrasts between religions, of divisions even within our beloved Church, it is difficult to ‘seek the light’, the true light (Jn 8:12 “I am the light of the world; whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life”).
And yet, Easter is precisely this “seeking the passage” from resignation to hope, from death to life, from indifference to co-responsibility, from closing in on oneself to the courage of witnessing.
I thought about what I could say to my friends in Ukraine, in South Sudan, in tormented Palestine: just words of comfort and closeness in prayer? They are not enough. What is needed is public and insistent indignation and condemnation of injustice and abuse, of suffering and death, and commitment, starting with our families, in the ecclesial and civil spheres for a radical change of mentality and lifestyle, based on the Gospel (Mt, 5, 14-16 “14 You are the light of the world; a city on a mountain cannot be hidden, 15 nor is a lamp lighted to be put under a bushel, but on a candlestick, and so it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven”).
Jesus himself, in the Sermon on the Beatitudes (Mt 5:3-12), shows us the way of the “passage”: what to do, what to be, always, everywhere, with everyone.
Here, then, is the desire: to be a “passage” in ourselves and with others, of profound and authentic change in our lives, in complete and unreserved fidelity to the Gospel. In this way we will allow the Lord, through our concrete witness, to make “all things new” (Rev 21:5) and to create for everyone, everywhere in the world, “new heavens and new earths” in which “righteousness will dwell” (2 Pet 3:13).
Therefore, in the full joy and revolutionary strength of the certainty that Christ is truly risen, I wish you, your families, your associations, your communities, a Holy Easter, a “true passage” of life (1 Jn 2:3-11), for the sake of solidarity between peoples and peace for all humanity.
Vincenzo Defilippis
FEAMC’ President
