Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, OFM, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, celebrated the Easter Vigil Mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and called on the faithful to look to Jesus rather than focus on their own suffering.
“The terrible days we are living have locked us in, they seem to have annihilated our expectations, to have closed all roads and erased the future,” he preached. “But if only we looked up, if only we stopped being self-absorbed by our pain and trapped behind the boulders that keep us closed in our tombs, perhaps we too, just like the women in today’s Gospel would be able to see something new, something that is being fulfilled.”
“Every time fear is conquered, every time a new step of humanity and fraternity is taken, the risen Lord makes Himself present in our life,” he added. “May we find Him in all those who are still capable of acts of love and forgiveness, which the world thirsts for today more than ever.”