At the Easter Sunday Mass, Pope Leo reminds us that the Easter proclamation that Christ is risen from the dead “opens us up to a hope that never fails, to a light that never fades, to a fullness of joy that nothing can take away: death has been conquered forever; death no longer has power over us!”
Vatican News
Presiding over the Easter Sunday Mass in Saint Peter’s Square with over fifty thousand faithful gathered, Pope Leo XIV explained how all creation today is “resplendent with new light” and we rejoice as “a song of praise rises from the earth … Christ is risen from the dead, and with him, we too rise to new life!”
Easter brings fullness of joy
The Easter proclamation “embraces the mystery of our lives and the destiny of history,” the Pope explained. And even into the depths of death when we can feel overhwelmed, Easter opens us up “to a hope that never fails, to a light that never fades, to a fullness of joy that nothing can take away” as “death has been conquered forever” and no longer has power over us.
READ THE FULL TEXT OF THE POPE’S HOMILY HERE
40th anniversary of Dutch flowers
The Easter celebration took place in a Saint Peter’s Square adorned with over 65 thousand tulips, daffodils, hyacinths; 7,800 flowers of various types, along with over 1,200 plumosa and long willow catkin branches.
Thousands of flowers from the Netherlands adorning Saint Peter’s Squares (@Vatican Media)
This year marks the 40th year that the Netherlands have offered this floral gift to the Pope at Easter. The initiative has been promoted by Dutch florists and volunteers in collaboration with the Dutch Bishops’ Conference and the “Bloemenpracht Rome” Foundation.
Easter Sunday, Saint Peter’s Square (@VATICAN MEDIA)
Challenged to embrace hope
Continuing his homily, the Pope acknowledged that the Easter message of hope and light is not always easy to accept, since the power of death constantly threatens us both interiorly and externally.
From within, the weight of our sins can prevent us “from ‘spreading our wings’ and taking flight” or suffering can cause us to lose hope and “feel as if we have ended up in a tunnel with no end in sight.”
Externally, death is daily in front of our eyes – “present in injustices, in partisan selfishness, in the oppression of the poor, in the lack of attention given to the most vulnerable.” The violence in our world and the wounds it causes are for all to see, he went on to say, “in the cry of pain that rises from every corner because of the abuses that crush the weakest among us, because of the idolatry of profit that plunders the earth’s resources, because of the violence of war that kills and destroys.”
Pope Leo on Easter Sunday, Saint Peter’s Square (@VATICAN MEDIA)
Lift our gaze, open our hearts
Easter calls on us to “lift our gaze and open our hearts,” the Pope explained, as “the Lord is alive and remains with us.”
“Through the cracks of resurrection that open up in the darkness, he entrusts our hearts to the hope that sustains us: the power of death is not the final destiny of our lives. We are all directed, once and for all, on the path to fulfilment, because in Christ we also have risen.”
Quoting words from Pope Francis’ first Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium, Pope Leo echoed its affirmation that the resurrection of Christ “is not an event of the past; it contains a vital power which has permeated this world. Where all seems to be dead, signs of the resurrection suddenly spring up. It is an irresistible force. Often it seems that God does not exist: all around us we see persistent injustice, evil, indifference and cruelty. But it is also true that in the midst of darkness something new always springs to life and sooner or later produces fruit” (n. 276).
Easter Sunday, Saint Peter’s Square (@Vatican Media)
New life dawns for humanity
The Risen Christ gives us certain hope, the Pope concluded, and the Resurrection “proclaims that a new life, stronger than death, is now dawning for humanity.”
“Easter is the new creation brought about by the Risen Lord; it is a new beginning; it is life finally made eternal by God’s victory over the ancient enemy. We need this song of hope today. It is ourselves, risen with Christ, who must bring him into the streets of the world. Let us then run like Mary Madgalene, announcing him to everyone, living out the joy of the resurrection, so that wherever the specter of death still lingers, the light of life may shine.”
Watch the full video of the Easter Sunday Mass in Saint Peter’s Square