Finding hope from the Resurrection

‘Only the Gospel and openness to the Spirit can inspire us with the new imagination needed at this time so to discover the Holy’s Spirit’s pulse in our collaboration with one another.’

THE HOLY Father Pope Francis reflects upon the Resurrection of Jesus and applies it to the current COVID-19 pandemic crisis.

‘SUDDENLY, JESUS met them and greeted them, saying:

“Rejoice.” ‘(Mt 28, 9) It is the first word of the Risen One after Mary Magdalene and the other Mary discovered the empty tomb and ran into the angel. The Lord comes out to meet them to transform their mourning into joy and comfort them in the midst of affliction ( Jr 31:10). He is the Risen One who wants to resurrect women and, with them, humanity as a whole.’

The disciples going to Emmaus were far from rejoicing. Pope Francis reflects that our experience today is much like that of the first disciples. We “live surrounded by an atmosphere of pain and uncertainty …” and wonder “Who

will roll away the stone?” (Mk 16:3) The tombstone is one that “threatens to bury all hope”, such as the many experiences of our people, which equal a death to hope today: the utter isolation and rejection of the elderly, the inability of families who cannot put food on the table anymore, health care providers who are ‘exhausted and overwhelmed’. It’s a ‘heaviness’ he says, “that seems to have the last word”.

Amid this loss of hope, the women are courageous not to allow the events of Christ’s passion to paralyse them. “Out of love for the Master, and with their typical, irreplaceable and blessed feminine genius, they were able to confront life as it came”. Contrary to the Apostles who fled and hid out of fear, or denied Him, the women, by simply being there and accompanying the Master, found ways to overcome obstacles in their path.

Like the women at the Resurrection, many today are ‘carrying perfume’ and ‘bringing the anointing’ of ‘co-responsibility’. They are ministering to the Lord in their brothers and sisters, often putting their lives at risk. “Doctors, nurses, people stocking supermarket shelves, cleaners, caretakers, people who transport goods, public safety officials, volunteers, priests, women religious, grandparents, educations, and many others” have asked the same question the women asked: “Who will roll away the stone?” The Pope acknowledges that this has not kept them from “doing what they felt they could and were obliged to do”.

Even today, many are participating in the Lord’s passion, either personally or at the side of their brothers and sisters. There, “our ears will hear the newness of the Resurrection. For the Lord precedes us on our journey and removes the stones that paralyse us”. No natural or man-made disaster can rob us of this hope. “All the life of service and love that we are giving at this time will beat once again.” The Lord only needs a ‘crack’ where His anointing can enter, which will “allow us to contemplate this painful reality with a renewed outlook,” the Pope says.

The next step is to retrace our steps. But only those whose lives are transformed by the Easter proclamation can retrace our steps as the women did, Pope Francis explains. Those living with the realisation that the Lord regenerates hope by constantly doing something new, will put on a renewed outlook in life that we are not saved alone. Easter calls us to let go of all that prevents the new life in Christ flourishing again in our lives.

Only the Gospel and openness to the Spirit can inspire us with the new imagination needed at this time so to discover the Holy’s Spirit’s pulse in our collaboration with one another. This is the ‘antibodies of solidarity’ that will enable us to defeat the COVID-19 pandemic. The Pope expressed his hope that the society finds the necessary antibodies of justice, charity and solidarity. Let us not be afraid to live the alternative civilisation of love. Only then the civilisation of hope would conquer other epidemics of hunger, war, poverty, environmental devastation, and the globalisation of indifference. We need everyone’s commitment to build this committed community of brothers and sisters.