Dominica Paschae in Resurrectione Domini 2013

“He is Risen” (Lk 24, 6).  This, my dear brothers and sisters, is the experience of those who ate and drank with him after his resurrection (cf. Acts 10: 41), and of those who are reborn “into a living hope and an incorruptible inheritance” (1Pt 1, 4). “He is Risen!” This is the foundation of our faith, the reason for our hope and charity: “If Christ has not been raised, our preaching would be empty and your faith as well (1Cor 15, 14).  Without that experience, the cross of Jesus and our own would be a tragedy and Christian life absurd. From here, however, we can sing with the liturgy, “O Crux, ave, spes unica”, i.e., “Hail, O Cross, our only hope”. The Crucified “rose again the third day according to the Scriptures” (1Cor 15, 4). This is the core of our faith and of the primitive kerygma; “this is what we preach” (1Cor 15, 11). The resurrection is the “yes” of God the Father to His Son and, in him, to us; this is also the theme of our proclamation and the foundation of our faith.