Here is a translation of the Pope’s words Monday, April 17, 2017, at noon introducing the Marian prayer of Eastertide.
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Before the Regina Caeli:
Dear Brothers and Sisters, good morning!
In this Monday of celebration, called “Monday of the Angel,” the liturgy has the announcement resound of the Resurrection proclaimed yesterday: “Christ is Risen, Alleluia!”
In today’s evangelical passage we can pick up the echo of the Angel’s words addressed to the women who approached the sepulcher: “Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead’” (Matthew 28:7). We also feel as addressed to us the invitation to “go quickly” to proclaim to the men and women of our time this message of joy and hope. Of certain hope, because, from the dawn of the third day, Jesus crucified was resurrected, the last word is no longer that of death but of life! And this is our certainty. The sepulcher is not the last word, it is not death; it is life! Therefore, we repeat much: Christ is Risen,” because in Him the sepulcher was defeated and life is born.
By virtue of this event, which constitutes the true and proper novelty of history and of the cosmos, we are called to be new men and women according to the Spirit, affirming the value of life. There is life! We will be men and women of resurrection, men and women of life, if, in the midst of the events that trouble the world — there are so many today –, in the midst of the worldliness that estranges from God, we are able to put gestures of solidarity, gestures of hospitality, nourishing the universal desire for peace and the aspiration for an environment free of degradation. They are ordinary and human signs but that, sustained and animated by faith in the Risen Lord, acquire a far superior efficacy than our capacities. And this is so because Christ is alive and working in history through His Holy Spirit; He rescues us from our miseries, reaches every human heart and gives back hope to anyone who is oppressed and suffering.
May the Virgin Mary, silent witness of the Death and Resurrection of her Son Jesus, help us to be living signs of the Risen Christ amid the events of the world, so that all those who are in tribulation and difficulties do not remain victims of pessimism and defeat, of resignation, but find in us many brothers and sisters that offer them support and consolation. May our Mother help us to believe intensely in the Resurrection of Jesus: Jesus is Risen, He is alive here, among us, and this is a wondrous mystery of salvation with the capacity to transform hearts and life. And may she intercede in a particular way for the Christian communities persecuted and oppressed which are today, in so many parts of the world, called to a more difficult and courageous witness.
And now, in the light and the joy of Easter, we turn to her in the prayer that, for fifty days until Pentecost, takes the place of the Angelus.
Regina Caeli . . .
[Original text: Italian] [Translation by Virginia M. Forrester]
After the Regina Caeli:
Dear Brothers and Sisters, in the Easter atmosphere that characterizes this day, I greet you all warmly, families, parish groups, associations and individual pilgrims from Italy and from all over the world. I wish each one of you to spend in serenity these days of the Octave of Easter, in which the joy of the Resurrection of Christ is prolonged. Take every good occasion to be witnesses of peace of the Risen Lord. A Good and Holy Easter to all! Please, do not forget to pray for me. Have a good lunch and see you soon.
[Original text: Italian] [Translation by Virginia M. Forrester]
