Easter Homily

                        23/4/2000

1. We offer this morning our Eucharist, as a sacrifice of thanksgiving to God Almighty, in this day of the Resurrection, here in the very place where we revere this mystery. We thank God for this grace, and we ask him to fill us with the strength and the light of the Resurrection, source of our joy and hope.

Moreover, we celebrate Easter, here, in Jerusalem, the Holy City of the Redemption, during the Great Jubilee, hopeful that it will be the beginning of a new period in the history of humankind, in the history of our Holy Land, in the life of all believers as well as in the life of our Churches.

A few weeks ago, the Holy Father, Pope John-Paul II, prayed in front of the empty Tomb and before the mystery that this empty Tomb has carried with it down the centuries and to our day. Here he meditated on the mystery of the Eternal Word who took flesh, and who suffered under Pontius Pilate, died, was buried and resurrected from the dead on the third day, for us and for our salvation.

Here, in front of the Tomb and the Calvary, we too, we pray today and we renew our faith in the Risen Lord; we renew our faith in his Spirit who accompanies us and “gives us the power to overcome our divisions, to build together, and to come together toward reconciliation, unity and peace. Here we hear the Lord saying to his disciples and to us all: “Do not be afraid, I have conquered the world”.(Jn 16,23) (Homily of Pope John-Paul II). And, as Christ has triumphed, we can triumph too.

We, the Christians who revere today this mystery, and all the inhabitants of the Holy Land, all its Jewish, Christian and Moslem believers, we can triumph over evil. It is in order to vanquish the spirit of evil, that God. in the boundless depth of his mystery, wanted us to remain and to live today together in this land of the Revelation.

2.  Here, in the land of the Resurrection, we are called to triumph over the difficult path of justice and peace. All believers, and particularly the religious leaders, have a role to fulfil, which can only be inspired by the vision of God loving all his creatures.  It is only in this vision that we can begin an inter-religious dialogue, which will be sensitive to the sufferings of everyone, Palestinian and Jew alike, which will listen to the Jew, but also to the Palestinian for all kinds of oppression which he still suffers: the refugees, the political prisoners, the limitation of freedom, the violation of human rights. It is in listening to this suffering that all believers, and especially the religious leaders, can purify their faith and live according to the Will of God. It is in this way that they can offer guidance to the conscience of the political leaders, and educate the conscience of the public opinion towards the difficult path of justice and peace. 

           3. And for us Christians, the Resurrection in the Year of the Great Jubilee, must guide us towards the liberation from the weight of past centuries, and its inherited divisions. Despite these divisions surviving until today in our souls and lives, we believe in a better future for our faith and our Churches. With the Risen Lord, we too we can triumph, since we believe in God, and not in human institutions. Our faith is not a defence of institutions, but the proclamation of the love of Jesus, the Lord who was crucified, died and rose again. We have recently concluded a synod, to begin precisely a new period in the life of our Churches. Therefore, we have to welcome together the call of God for us to be Christians here, in this Holy Land, and to be his witnesses forever. In this day of the Resurrection, we repeat over and over to our faithful the words of the Lord: be courageous, do not be afraid, because I have triumphed over evil. Accept your difficult life. First, life is not only difficult for us alone, but all the people faces the same difficulties. Second, as our presence here is a divine call, it is in renewing our faith and in living according to it, that we can triumph over evil in ourselves and around us.

4. The Holy Father said in his homily here: “At the dawn of the third millennium Christians can and should look to the future with trust in the one who has resurrected in order to make everything new (cf.  Rev 21:5). We ask the Risen Lord to give us the courage to ”look for the things that are above, where Christ is” (Col 3:1) as we read in the second reading of this day, so that we may carry in ourselves and in our society the joy and hope of the Resurrection. Amen. 

                                           +Michel Sabbah, 

                                                      Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem