Pope at Regina Caeli: 'Life has
the last word'
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| Pope Francis delivers the Regina Caeli address in the Library of the Apostolic Palace (Vatican Media) |
From the library of the Apostolic Palace, Pope Francis holds
the noon-day Regina Caeli on Easter Monday, saying "Jesus resurrection
tells us that death does not have the last word, life does".
By Sr Bernadette Mary Reis, fsp
“Today, Easter Monday of the Angel, the joyous proclamation
of Christ’s resurrection resounds”. Pope Francis thus began his remarks before
leading the Regina Caeli prayer at noon from the library of
the Apostolic Palace.
Jesus is risen!
His remarks focused on the day’s Gospel reading (cfr Mt 28:8-15).
The Gospel recounts that the fearful women meet Jesus Himself as they are
running away from His empty tomb. “Do not be afraid”, Jesus tells them. Then He
asks them to tell His disciples to go to Galilee where He will see them.
Jesus reward to the faithful women
Pope Francis that “With these words, the Risen One entrusts
the women with a missionary mandate to the Apostles”. This is how Jesus rewards
them, with a gesture that shows “attention and predilection”, he continued.
Throughout his public life and passion, they had been faithful in showing him
selfless dedication and love.
Slow to believe
These women and the disciples were slow to believe, even
though Jesus “had foretold a number of time” that He would die and rise again,
the Pope said. They were not ready yet. Their faith needed “to take a
qualitative step forward”. Only the Risen Jesus’s gift of the Holy Spirit could
have “provoked” them to take that step, Pope Francis explained.
The Good News has reached every corner of the earth
After that, Peter, and many others after him, have boldly
proclaimed Jesus’s resurrection. That proclamation, the Pope said, “has
spread everywhere” reaching every corner of the earth”. It has become “a
message of hope for everyone.”
“Jesus’s resurrection tells us that death does not have
the last word, life does.”
Christ, my hope is arisen!
This is why out outlook can be hopeful amidst life's most
difficult and uncertain moments of life, the Pope said. “This is the Easter
message that we are called to proclaim with words, and above all through the
witness of life”, he said.
“In our homes and in our hearts, may this joyful news resound:
‘Christ, my hope, is arisen!’”
Mary, silent witness
Concluding his remarks before reciting the Regina
Caeli, Pope Francis invoked Mary, the “silent witness” of Jesus’s death and
resurrection. He asked her to help us believe in the “mystery of salvation”
that, when “welcomed with faith, can change our lives”.
“It is this Easter wish that renews everyone. I entrust
it to You, our Mother, whom we now invoke with the prayer, the Regina Caeli.”
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