Pope at Easter Vigil: Roll away
the stones that crush hope
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| Pope Francis carries a lighted candle at the Easter Vigil (Vatican Media) |
“Why do you seek the living among the dead?” is the
recurring theme in Pope Francis’ homily during the Easter Vigil Mass in St
Peter’s Basilica, as he challenges us to roll away the stones of sin and discouragement.
By Vatican News
Many people consider the Easter Vigil liturgy to be the most
beautiful of all Catholic liturgies. Celebrated on Holy Saturday evening, it
provides a dramatic introduction to Easter. Through the powerful symbols of
fire, light, music, and the water of baptism – everything speaks of hope and
rebirth. And Pope Francis did the same in his homily.
Rolling away the stone
The Pope began with the image of the women bringing spices
to the tomb: they found a stone blocking the entrance, and feared their journey
had been in vain. “The journey of those women is also our own”, said the Pope.
“At times, it seems that everything comes up against a stone… We can be tempted
to think that dashed hope is the bleak law of life”.
But today “we see that our journey is not in vain”, he
continued. “Easter is the feast of tombstones taken away, rocks rolled aside”,
the Pope said. “God takes away even the hardest stones against which our hopes
and expectations crash: death, sin, fear, worldliness. Human history does
not end before a tombstone, because today it encounters the ‘living stone’, the
risen Jesus”.
The stone of discouragement
Pope Francis then challenged us to identify the stone we
personally need to roll back from our hearts. He began with the “stone of
discouragement” which is what blocks hope, he said. “Once we start thinking
everything is going badly…we lose heart…we become cynical, negative and
despondent”. Pope Francis spoke of building a kind of “tomb psychology” where there
is no hope of coming out alive. “The Lord is not to be found in resignation”,
he continued, “He is not the God of the dead but of the living. Do not bury
hope”.
The stone of sin
The “stone of sin” is what seals the heart shut, said the
Pope. “Sin seduces; it promises things easy and quick, prosperity and success,
but then leaves behind only solitude and death”. Pope Francis described
sin as “looking for life among the dead, for the meaning of life in things that
pass away”. Sin is like “a stone before the entrance to your heart,” he said.
“It keeps God’s light from entering in”. Better to choose Jesus, “the true
light”, over “the glitter of wealth, career, pride and pleasure”.
The courage to look up
Pope Francis then returned to the image of the women at the
tomb: “frightened, their faces bowed to the ground”, as the Gospel tells us.
“They did not have the courage to look up”, said the Pope, reminding us how
often we do the same thing. “Glum and closed up within ourselves, we feel in
control”, he said, “for it is easier to remain alone in the darkness of our
heart than to open ourselves to the Lord”. Only He can raise us up, said Pope
Francis, going on to quote American poet, Emily Dickinson: “We never know how
high we are. Till we are called to rise”. The Pope suggested we should ask
ourselves: “Am I gazing at graveyards, or looking for the Living One?”.
With Him we will rise again
“Easter teaches us that believers do not linger at
graveyards”, added Pope Francis, “for they are called to go forth to meet the
Living One”. Which is why we need to ask where we ourselves are going in our
lives. “Sometimes we go only in the direction of our problems”, he said, “we
keep seeking the Living One among the dead…digging up regrets, reproaches,
hurts and dissatisfactions, without letting the Risen One change us”.
Pope Francis’ final invitation was to ask for the grace “not
to be carried by the current, the sea of our problems…not to run aground on the
shoals of sin or crash on the reefs of discouragement and fear”. “Let us
seek Him in all things and above all things”, concluded the Pope, because “with
Him, we will rise again".
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