EASTER 2004 - URBI ET ORBI MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE JOHN PAUL II
After imparting the Urbi et Orbi Blessing below to the people and to the world in 2004, the Holy Father commented on the fact that Easter is celebrated at the same time in the Orthodox and Catholic Churches this year.
Because of a fortunate
coincidence in the calendar, this year we Christians of East and West are celebrating
holy Easter on the same day. I express my warmest good wishes to
everyone and in particular to the venerable Patriarchs, the Bishops and the
faithful of the Eastern Churches.
I pray to the Risen Lord that all
of us who are baptized may soon come to relive together on the same day
every year this fundamental feast of our faith.
Pope John Paul's Easter Blessing
"Resurrexit, alleluia -
He is risen, alleluia!"
This year too the joyous
proclamation of Easter,
which echoed powerfully at last night's Vigil,
strengthens our hope.
"Why do you seek the living among the dead?
He is not here, but has risen" (Lk 24:5-6).
Thus the angel encourages the women who have hastened to the tomb.
Thus the Easter liturgy repeats to us,
the men and women of the third millennium:
Christ is risen, Christ is alive among us!
His name now is "the Living One",
death has no more power over him (cf. Rom 6:9).
Resurrexit! Today you, O Redeemer of mankind,
rise victoriously from the tomb to offer to us,
troubled by many threatening shadows,
your wish for joy and peace.
Those who are tempted by anxiety and desperation
turn to you, O Christ, our life and our guide,
to hear the proclamation of the hope that does not disappoint.
On this day of your victory over death,
may humanity find in you, O Lord, the courage to oppose
in solidarity the many evils that afflict it.
In particular, may it find the strength to face the inhuman,
and unfortunately growing, phenomenon of terrorism,
which rejects life and brings anguish and uncertainty
to the daily lives of so many hard-working and peaceful people.
May your wisdom enlighten men and women of good will
in the required commitment against this scourge.
May the work of national and international institutions
hasten the overcoming of the present difficulties
and favour progress towards a more effective
and peaceful world order.
May world leaders be confirmed and sustained
In their efforts to resolve satisfactorily the continuing conflicts
that cause bloodshed in certain regions of Africa,
Iraq and the Holy Land.
You, firstborn of many brothers, grant that all
who consider themselves children of Abraham
may rediscover the brotherhood that they share
and that prompts in them designs of cooperation and peace.
Take heed all of you who have at heart mankind's future!
Take heed men and women of good will!
May the temptation to seek revenge
give way to the courage to forgive;
may the culture of life and love
render vain the logic of death;
may trust once more give breath to the lives of peoples.
If our future is one,
it is the task and duty of all to build it
with patient and painstaking far-sightedness.
"Lord, to whom shall we go?"
You who have conquered death, you alone
"have the words of eternal life" (Jn 6:68).
To you we raise with confidence our prayer
which becomes an invocation of comfort
for the families of the many victims of violence.
Help us to work ceaselessly
for the coming of that more just and united world
that you have inaugurated with your resurrection.
Accompanying us in this task is
"she who believed that there would be a fulfilment
of what was spoken to her from the Lord" (Lk 1:45).
Blessed are you, O Mary, silent witness of Easter!
You, O Mother of the Crucified One now risen,
who at the hour of pain and death
kept the flame of hope burning,
teach us also to be,
amongst the incongruities of passing time,
convinced and joyful witnesses
of the eternal message of life and love
brought to the world by the Risen Redeemer.
Surrexit Christus. Alleluia!
A Blessed and Happy Easter to all from Cressida
ReplyDelete.https://youtu.be/KJELqTEnZYU?si=6O3-DFT0e5tZWtr5
Christ is risen!! A blessed Easter to all.
ReplyDeleteGadjo
The night is far spent; the day is at hand. A blessed Easter to you all.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry to hear the news about Pope Francis's repose. By God's grace he celebrated one final Easter here being called to meet the Lord in person.
ReplyDeleteGrant, O Lord, remission of sins to your servant Francis, departed in the faith and hope of the resurrection, and make his memory to be eternal.
Just when he seemed to be on the way to recovery at long last, almost a full month after his release from hospital. Rest in peace, Pope Francis.
DeleteNo, I thought he looked very ill in his last public appearance the other day. I didn't think he had much longer. I hope and pray he finds in the next life what he dreamt of in this one. RIP.
DeleteMay Francis find eternal rest in the bosom of our Lord. May God bless and guide the Roman Catholic church.
DeleteLuke Coppen, a former editor of the Catholic Herald, has written a penetrating, carefully balanced, and highly readable obituary (link below). At the end he looks ahead to the coming conclave:
ReplyDeleteAs we head towards a conclave, Catholics may fall into three broad categories. The first will hope the cardinals elect a perfect replica: Francis II. The second will long for a Pope who swiftly dismantles Francis’s legacy. The third – by far the largest – will simply be relieved to see a man in white walk out onto St. Peter’s balcony, whatever his ideological preferences.
The first two camps are more likely to be disappointed. Francis was a sui generis Pope with a uniquely intricate personality. A successor determined to follow his roadmap might struggle to make out any directions beyond a vague ‘follow the path of synodality’. The election of an overtly ‘anti-Francis’ candidate is also hard to imagine given the culture of deference among cardinals and the Catholic bias towards continuity. It’s easier to conceive of a figure who routinely praises Francis while quietly working to rectify whatever he considers his mistakes.
In other words, the essential question is: will this be another regime change election or will it result only in regime extension, through the election of a cardinal closely allied to Pope Francis? The Catholic Church’s immediate future is every bit as unpredictable as the man who shaped it so forcefully over the past 12 years.
https://archive.ph/So2xs#selection-1771.0-1797.10
I pray that this conclave doesn't lead to another power struggle. The Church is beginning to grow again, and more divisive infighting is in nobody's interest.
DeletePour out your healing oils, Lord, and send forth your life giving water: for your people are thirsty and the land is dry.
I fully agree, Lain. It looks to me as though at this moment the church needs a pope who won’t be divisive in either direction but rather an influence for reconciliation. Between you and me I have had a hunch for quite a long time, for several years now, that the next pope was going to be a certain fairly prominent cardinal, though an important factor militating against him was his age, still in his fifties. Well, it just so happens that today is his sixtieth birthday ...
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