In what he himself called an “Armenian Day”, Pope Francis inaugurated, shortly after noon, a bronze statue in the Vatican Gardens depicting Armenian culture’s hero, Saint Gregory of Narek, after receiving in Audience, in the morning in the Apostolic Palace, President Serzh Sargsyan and the patriarchs of the Caucasian country that converted to Christianity in the fourth century.
Pope Bergoglio has cited Hell many times, which is not a place but a state in which one chooses to be by rejecting the love of God.
Inasmuch as it is an excessive exultation of human achievements and capabilities, triumphalism can only ever be an impediment to the Church’s mission. Any deviation from the path of humility exemplified in the life and ministry of Our Saviour inevitably takes us into a dead end in which we cannot expect him to bless our efforts.
Being members of the Church Militant on earth involves struggling, with God’s grace, against our own frailties, and allows no quarter to any sense of self-sufficiency. Convincing ourselves of our own invincibility is a hubris that leads to disaster.
The Lord died and arose from the dead to a new life of an absolutely Godlike character. It was that life that was suddenly and mysteriously illuminated for a moment on Mount Tabor. When He was on His way to Jerusalem, where He was to suffer, this Godlike essence blazed up from hidden depths. True enough, it was only for one short hour, and thereafter it subsided. Now, however, after He had walked through death, life broke through with almighty power. The Lord lived. Now He lived in a new way — alive from within, with a divine Lordship permeating His being, body and soul.
In the Masses of Easter week, the Gospels recount the various apparitions of the risen Jesus; the first, and one of the most moving, is that to Mary Magdalene (John 20:11-18). In this episode Mary appears with her characteristic trait, that of a soul completely possessed by the love of God. When she reaches the sepulcher, she has scarcely seen “the stone rolled away,” before she is seized with one only anxiety: “They have taken away my Lord.” Who could have taken Him? Where could they have put Him?
The extraordinary 2010 film Of Gods and Men, by the French director Xavier Beauvois, depicts the kidnapping and murder of nine Trappist monks in Algeria by Islamic fundamentalists in 1996. In one of its most memorable moments, an old tape machine plays Tchaikovsky’s Grand Theme from Swan Lake while the camera focuses on the monks drinking red wine as they contemplate their impending martyrdom.
The atmosphere of dread in that moment is matched by the abiding serenity of the Trappists, made all the more powerful by the fact that the events of the film actually happened.
In his Easter message, Pope Francis also appeals for the Holy Land, Yemen, South Sudan, Ukraine, Venezuela and the talks in Korea. The memory of persecuted Christians and children who have been victims of wars.
“But the glory of the cross led those who were blind through ignorance into light, loosed all who were held fast by sin, and ransomed the whole world of mankind.” – St. Cyril of Jerusalem
“Let us then not be ashamed of the cross of our Savior, but rather glory in it… For it was not a mere man who died for us, but the Son of God, God made man.” – St. Cyril of Jerusalem
The Christian woman unjustly condemned to death prays in prison with the rosary she received from the Pope. In Pakistan, Catholics live the liturgy of the Cross with special devotion.
