The Face of Mercy / Daniel Conway

The wonder of our Lord’s resurrection, sources of faith, hope

During the Easter season, Christians stand before the empty tomb and wonder at the miracle that occurred here 2,000 years ago. We are amazed by the wondrous love of Jesus who gave himself completely, selflessly, as a ransom for our sins.

“Life has conquered death. Mercy and love have conquered sin! There is need of faith and hope to open this new and wonderful horizon,” Pope Francis says. Faith and hope are needed to perceive, even dimly, the depth, breadth and magnificence of what God has done through the man, Jesus of Nazareth, whose words and actions are life itself.

“We know that faith and hope are a gift from God,” Pope Francis tells us, “and we have to ask: ‘Lord, give me faith, give me hope!’ We have so much need!”

We need faith today because we live in an age that is blanketed by skepticism, by doubts about even the most basic

truths—the dignity of all persons; the meaning of marriage and family; the most basic rights of all human persons to food, lodging, health care, employment, freedom of religion and political liberty. We need something (someone) to believe in.

We need to see integrity, justice, compassion and humility in our leaders and institutions. We need to know with the absolute certainty of faith that a good God created us and our world, and that this loving God sustains us, cares for us and calls us to be happy and at peace—now and in the life to come.

We need hope, too, to counteract the darkness and despair all around us. Like the disciples of Jesus before Pentecost, we are a fearful people filled with anxiety. We wonder at the empty tomb, but we certainly don’t understand what happened there. We are tempted to hide behind closed doors in the comfort and security of our homes, our parishes and the Church itself. Christ our hope has risen from the dead, but we do not yet see how that fact gives us hope or frees us from the gloom and doom all around us.

Pope Francis urges us to let go of our security blankets, to move out of our comfort zones. “Let us be pervaded by the emotions that resonate in the Easter sequence,” the Holy Father says. “Yes, we are certain: Christ is truly risen. The Lord has risen among us! This truth marked in an indelible way the lives of the Apostles who, after the resurrection, again felt the need to follow their Master and, receiving the Holy Spirit, went without fear to proclaim to all what they had seen with their own eyes and personally experienced.” The risen Christ empowers us to break free from the chains of fear, apathy and indifference.

“Christ, my hope, is risen!” Pope Francis exclaims, adding that “if Christ is risen, we can look with new eyes and hearts at every event of our lives, even the most negative.” If we are open to the grace of the Holy Spirit and recommit ourselves to following Jesus, we will be set free. Our worst fears and darkest doubts will be overcome by the power of God made manifest in Christ’s resurrection from the dead.

“The moments of darkness, of failure, and also of sin can be transformed and announce a new path. When we have reached the base of our misery and our weakness, the risen Christ gives us the strength to lift ourselves up. If we have faith in him, his grace saves us!” Pope Francis continues, “The crucified and risen Lord is the full revelation of mercy, present and active in history. This is the Easter message that still resonates today, and that will resonate throughout the time of Easter until Pentecost.”

If we still have doubts or are still uncertain about what the empty tomb, as a sign of Jesus’ resurrection, means for our daily lives, Pope Francis urges us to look to Mary, “the silent witness to the events of the passion and resurrection of Jesus.”

“In the broken heart of a mother, there was always the flame of hope. We ask her to also help us to accept in fullness the Easter proclamation of resurrection, to embody it concretely in our daily lives.

“May the Virgin Mary give us the certainty of faith; that it will become a blessing and joy for us and for others, especially for those who suffer because of selfishness and indifference.”
 

(Daniel Conway is a member of The Criterion’s editorial committee.) †