Easter inspiration from Pope Francis and Pope Benedict XVI

The Lord is alive and wants to be sought among the living. After having found him, each person is sent out by him to announce the Easter message, to awaken and resurrect hope in hearts burdened by sadness, in those who struggle to find meaning in life. This is so necessary today. However, we must not proclaim ourselves. Rather, as joyful servants of hope, we must announce the Risen One by our lives and by our love; otherwise we will be only an international organization full of followers and good rules, yet incapable of offering the hope for which the world longs.

— Homily of His Holiness Pope Francis on the Easter Vigil in the Holy Night, March 26, 2016.

 

Thus we can sing full of joy, together with the Church, in the words of the Exsultet: “Sing, choirs of angels … rejoice, O earth!” The Resurrection is a cosmic event, which includes heaven and earth and links them together. In the words of the Exsultet once again, we can proclaim: “Christ … who came back from the dead and shed his peaceful light on all mankind, your Son who lives and reigns for ever and ever.” Amen!

— Homily of His Holiness Benedict XVI on the Easter Vigil in the Holy Night, April 15, 2006

 

This, therefore, is the proclamation that the Church repeats from the first day: “Christ is risen!”. And, in him, through Baptism, we too are risen, we have passed from death to life, from the slavery of sin to the freedom of love. Behold the Good News that we are called to take to others and to every place, inspired by the Holy Spirit. Faith in the resurrection of Jesus and the hope that he brought us is the most beautiful gift that the Christian can and must give to his brothers. To all and to each, therefore, let us not tire of saying: Christ is risen! Let us repeat it all together, today here in the square: Christ is risen! Let us repeat it with words, but above all with the witness of our lives. The happy news of the Resurrection should shine on our faces, in our feelings and attitudes, in the way we treat others.

— Regina Caeli of His Holiness Pope Francis, Easter Monday, April 6, 2015

 

Resurrectio Domini, spes nostra! The resurrection of Christ is our hope! This the Church proclaims today with joy. She announces the hope that is now firm and invincible because God has raised Jesus Christ from the dead. … She invokes the hope that can call forth the courage to do good, even when it costs, especially when it costs. Today the Church sings “the day that the Lord has made,” and she summons people to joy.

—Urbi et Orbi Message of His Holiness Benedict XVI, Easter 2009

 

All of us, when we let ourselves be mastered by sin, lose the right way and end up straying like lost sheep. But God himself, our shepherd, has come in search of us. To save us, he lowered himself even to accepting death on the cross. Today we can proclaim: “The Good Shepherd has risen, who laid down his life for his sheep, and willingly died for his flock, alleluia” (Roman Missal, IV Sunday of Easter, Communion antiphon).

— Urbi et Orbi Message of His Holiness Pope Francis, Easter 2017