Here is a Zenit translation of the Pope’s words Monday, April 2, 2018, at noon introducing the Marian prayer of Eastertide.
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Before the Regina Caeli:
Dear Brothers and Sisters, good morning!
According to a very beautiful tradition, which corresponds to the biblical sources on the Resurrection, the Monday after Easter is called “Monday of the Angel.” The Gospels in fact narrate (Cf. Matthew 28:1-10; Mark 16:1-7; Luke 24:1-12) that when the women went to the Sepulcher, they found it open. They were afraid they wouldn’t be able to enter because the tomb was closed with a large rock. Instead, it was open and, from within, a voice said to them that Jesus wasn’t there, but He is risen.
The words He “is risen,” are pronounced for the first time. The evangelists refer that this first announcement was give by the Angels, namely, God’s messengers. There is a meaning in this angelic presence: as the Incarnation of the Word was announced by an Angel, Gabriel, so also to announce the Resurrection for the first time a human word was not sufficient. A higher being was necessary to communicate such an overwhelming reality, so incredible, that perhaps no man would have dared to pronounce it. After this first announcement, the community of the disciples begins to repeat: “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” (Luke 24:34). This announcement is beautiful. We can now say it all together: “The Lord has risen indeed.” This first announcement – “the Lord has risen indeed” – required a superior intelligence than the human.
Today’s is a feast of conviviality lived usually with the family. It’s a family day. Perceived, after having celebrated Easter, is the need to come together again with one’s dear ones and with friends to celebrate. Because fraternity is the fruit of the Easter of Christ who, with His Death and Resurrection, defeated sin that separated man from God, man from himself, man from his brothers. However, we know that sin always separates, always creates enmities. Jesus pulled down the wall of division between men and re-established peace, beginning to weave the network of a new fraternity. It’s so important in this our time to rediscover fraternity, as it was lived in the first Christian communities. To rediscover how to give room to Jesus who never separates, <who> always unites. There can’t be true communion and a commitment to the common good and social justice without fraternity and sharing. Without fraternal sharing an ecclesial or civil community can’t be brought about; there is only an ensemble of individuals moved or re-grouped by their own interests. However, fraternity is a grace that Jesus grants.
Christ’s Easter made another thing explode in the world: the novelty of dialogue and of relation, novelty that for Christians became a responsibility. In fact, Jesus said: “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (john 13:35). Behold why we can’t close ourselves in our privacy, in our group, but we are called to be concerned with the common good, to take care of brethren, especially the weakest and marginalized. Only fraternity can guarantee a lasting peace, can defeat poverty, can extinguish tensions and wars, can extirpate corruption and criminality. May the Angel that says to us: He “is risen,” help us to live fraternity and the novelty of dialogue and relationship and concern for the common good.
May the Virgin Mary, whom in this paschal time we invoke with the title Queen of Heaven, support us with her prayer, so that the fraternity and communion we experience in these days of Easter, are able to become our style of life and the spirit of our relationships.
[Original text: Italian] [ZENIT’s translation by Virginia M. Forrester]
After the Regina Coeli
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
In the paschal atmosphere that characterizes today’s day, I greet you all warmly, families, parish groups, Associations and individual pilgrims from Italy and from various parts of the world.
I wish for each one of you to spend these days of the Octave of Easter in serenity, in which the joy of the Resurrection of Christ is prolonged. Take up every good occasion to be witnesses of the peace of the Risen Lord, especially in regard to the most fragile and disadvantaged persons, In this connection, I wish to assure you of a special prayer for the World Autism Awareness Day, which is observed today.
We invoke the gift of peace for the whole world, especially for the populations that suffer most because of on-going conflicts. I renew, in particular, my appeal so that kidnapped persons or <those> unjustly deprived of freedom are released and can return to their homes.
Happy Monday of the Angel! Please, don’t forget to pray for me. Have a good lunch and goodbye — and: “The Lord has risen indeed.”
[Original text: Italian] [Translation by Virginia M. Forrester]
