For each of us, too, there is a 'Galilee' at the origin of our journey
with Jesus. 'To go to Galilee' means something beautiful, it means
rediscovering our baptism as a living fountainhead, drawing new energy from
the sources of our faith and our Christian experience. To return to Galilee
means above all to return to that blazing light with which God’s grace
touched me at the start of the journey. From that flame I can light a fire
for today and every day, and bring heat and light to my brothers and
sisters. That flame ignites a humble joy, a joy which sorrow and distress
cannot dismay, a good, gentle joy.
 In the life of every Christian, after baptism there is also another
'Galilee', a more existential 'Galilee': the experience of a personal
encounter with Jesus Christ who called me to follow him and to share in his
mission. In this sense, returning to Galilee means treasuring in my heart
the living memory of that call, when Jesus passed my way, gazed at me with
mercy and asked me to follow him. To return there means reviving the memory
of that moment when his eyes met mine, the moment when he made me realise
that he loved me.
 Today, tonight, each of us can ask: What is my Galilee? I need to remind
myself, to go back and remember. Where is my Galilee? Do I remember it?
Have I forgotten it? Seek and you will find it! There the Lord is waiting
for you. Have I gone off on roads and paths which made me forget it? Lord,
help me: tell me what my Galilee is; for you know that I want to return
there to encounter you and to let myself be embraced by your mercy. Do not
be afraid, do not fear, return to Galilee!
 The Gospel is very clear: we need to go back there, to see Jesus risen,
and to become witnesses of his resurrection. This is not to go back in
time; it is not a kind of nostalgia. It is returning to our first love, in
order to receive the fire which Jesus has kindled in the world and to bring
that fire to all people, to the very ends of the earth. Go back to Galilee,
without fear!
 'Galilee of the Gentiles'! Horizon of the Risen Lord, horizon of the
Church; intense desire of encounter... Let us be on our way!".

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 EASTER SUNDAY: LOVE LETS HOPE FLOURISH IN THE DESERT
 Vatican City, 20 April 2014 (VIS) - At 10.15 today, Easter Sunday, the
Holy Father Francis celebrated the solemn Mass of the Resurrection of the
Lord in St. Peter's Square, which was adorned with 35,000 plants and
flowers (tulips, narcissus and hyacinths), offered by Dutch florists.
During the celebration, which began with the "Resurrexit" rite -
the opening of an icon of the Risen Lord, placed next to the papal altar -
was attended by more than 150,000 faithful from all around the world. The
Pope did not pronounce a homily but following Mass he delivered an Easter
message and imparted his "Urbi et Orbi" blessing.
 At midday, from the central balcony of the Vatican basilica, the Pope
addressed the faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square and all those
following the event on radio or television, and made an appeal for those
affected by the Ebola virus outbreak in various African countries, and for
peace in Syria, Iraq, Venezuela and Ukraine, for an end to the clashes in
the Central African Republic, Nigerian and South Sudan, and for the
resumption of negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. He then
imparted his "Urbi et Orbi" blessing, to the city and the world.
 "A happy and holy Easter!" said the Bishop of Rome. "The
Church throughout the world echoes the angel’s message to the women: 'Do
not be afraid! I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He
is not here; for he has been raised... Come, see the place where he lay'.
 This is the culmination of the Gospel, it is the Good News par excellence:
Jesus, who was crucified, is risen! This event is the basis of our faith
and our hope. If Christ were not raised, Christianity would lose its very
meaning; the whole mission of the Church would lose its impulse, for this
is the point from which it first set out and continues to set out ever
anew. The message which Christians bring to the world is this: Jesus, Love
incarnate, died on the cross for our sins, but God the Father raised him
and made him the Lord of life and death. In Jesus, love has triumphed over
hatred, mercy over sinfulness, goodness over evil, truth over falsehood,
life over death.
 That is why we tell everyone: 'Come and see!' In every human situation,
marked by frailty, sin and death, the Good News is no mere matter of words,
but a testimony to unconditional and faithful love: it is about leaving
ourselves behind and encountering others, being close to those crushed by
life’s troubles, sharing with the needy, standing at the side of the sick,
elderly and the outcast... 'Come and see!': Love is more powerful, love
gives life, love makes hope blossom in the wilderness.
 With this joyful certainty in our hearts, today we turn to you, risen Lord!
 Help us to seek you and to find you, to realize that we have a Father and
are not orphans; that we can love and adore you.
 Help us to overcome the scourge of hunger, aggravated by conflicts and by
the immense wastefulness for which we are often responsible.
 Enable us to protect the vulnerable, especially children, women and the
elderly, who are at times exploited and abandoned.
 Enable us to care for our brothers and sisters struck by the Ebola
epidemic in Guinea Conakry, Sierra Leone and Liberia, and to care for those
suffering from so many other diseases which are also spread through neglect
and dire poverty.
 Comfort all those who cannot celebrate this Easter with their loved ones
because they have been unjustly torn from their affections, like the many
persons, priests and laity, who in various parts of the world have been
kidnapped.
 Comfort those who have left their own lands to migrate to places offering
hope for a better future and the possibility of living their lives in
dignity and, not infrequently, of freely professing their faith.
 We ask you, Lord Jesus, to put an end to all war and every conflict,
whether great or small, ancient or recent.
 We pray in a particular way for Syria, beloved Syria, that all those
suffering the effects of the conflict can receive needed humanitarian aid
and that neither side will again use deadly force, especially against the
defenceless civil population, but instead boldly negotiate the peace long
awaited and long overdue!
 Jesus, Lord of glory, we ask you to comfort the victims of fratricidal
acts of violence in Iraq and to sustain the hopes raised by the resumption
of negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians.
 We beg for an end to the conflicts in the Central African Republic and a
halt to the brutal terrorist attacks in parts of Nigeria and the acts of
violence in South Sudan.
 We ask that hearts be turned to reconciliation and fraternal concord in Venezuela.
 By your resurrection, which this year we celebrate together with the
Churches that follow the Julian calendar, we ask you to enlighten and
inspire the initiatives that promote peace in Ukraine so that all those
involved, with the support of the international community, will make every
effort to prevent violence and, in a spirit of unity and dialogue, chart a
path for the country’s future. On this day, may they be able to proclaim,
as brothers and sisters, that Christ is risen, Khrystos voskres!
 Lord, we pray to you for all the peoples of the earth: you who have
conquered death, grant us your life, grant us your peace! 'Christus
surrexit, venite et videte!' Dear brothers and sisters, Happy
Easter!".

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 EASTER MONDAY: MARIA, MOTHER OF HOPE
 Vatican City, 21 April 2014 (VIS) - At midday today, on "Monday of
the Angel", the Pope appeared at the window of his study to pray the
Regina Coeli - the prayer that substitutes the Angelus at Easter time -
with the thousands of faithful and pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square.
 Francis wished all present a happy Easter, commenting that the prevalent
sentiment in the Gospel readings of the Resurrection is "joy filled
with wonder ... a joy that comes from within", and that through the
liturgy we relive the state of mind of the disciples upon receiving the
news from the women.
 "May this experience, imprinted in the Gospel, become imprinted in
our hearts and shine through in our lives", he continued. Those who
have this experience, he explained, "become witnesses of the
Resurrection, because in a sense, he himself is risen, she herself is
risen. Thus they are able to bring a 'ray' of light of the Risen Lord to
different situations: to happy ones, making them even more beautiful and
preserving them from selfishness; and to painful ones, bringing serenity
and hope".
 The Pope advised rereading the chapters of the Gospel that recount the
Resurrection and also thinking of "the joy of Mary, the Mother of
Jesus". "Mary's heart, after passing through the experience of
the death and resurrection of her Son, seen through the eyes of faith as
the supreme expression of God's love, became a source of peace, comfort,
hope, mercy. All the prerogatives of our Mother come from this: from her
participation in the Paschal mystery of Jesus. ... From Friday to Sunday
morning, she did not lose hope: we contemplated as a mother both sorrowful
and full of hope. She, the Mother of all the disciples, the Mother of the
Church, is the Mother of hope. We ask her, the silent witness of Jesus'
death and resurrection, to lead us in the joy of Easter", concluded
Pope Francis.

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