“And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain”

 

On the feast of Easter, I send my best wishes to the editorial staff of 30Giorni and readers of the magazine. I thank the editorial management who wanted to publish this sermon, which I delivered on the occasion of the Easter Mass at the Maronite Patriarchate of Bkerke. I hope it will provide readers with a contribution to spiritual growth.

Béchara Boutros Raï Maronite Patriarch of Antioch and All the East

 

 

 

 

 

“You seek Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified. He has been raised; he is not here” (Mk 16, 6)

 

The truth of Christ’s death and burial, His appearances, the empty tomb, all this confirms His Resurrection. Son of God made flesh, Jesus really died on the cross for the redemption of the sins of all mankind. By means of His blood, He reconciled God with each man, so that we live the reconciliation with God and with each other. He rose for our justification (Rm 4, 25) and to give us new life, which is the divine life in us. This is the import of the annunciation of the angel to the women, at dawn on the Sunday of the Resurrection: “Do not be amazed! You seek Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified. He has been raised; he is not here” (Mk 16, 6). In turn, we announce this news to the world: Christ is risen! He is truly risen!

Excellency, President Michel Suleiman, we are pleased that you are among the front ranks of the faithful in this feast of the Resurrection from the dead of the Lord Jesus. In the midst of these faithful are ministers, deputies, chairmen of municipalities, mayors and other figures of public life and the private sector. To you, Mr President, and all those present we would like to express our most sincere hope that the Lord Christ, risen from the dead, may give you in abundance His graces, His peace, His joy, and grant to Lebanon and the Arab countries, nowadays in crisis, to recover the unity, stability and a just and generalized peace.

Your presence in this patriarchal see adds joy and gladness to the sacred character of this feast. We are likewise pleased by the fact that, by virtue of your faith in the glorious Resurrection of Christ from the dead, the source of the resurrection of hearts, you can operate, as head of the Republic, for the resurrection of the country from the ruins of war as from the stumbling blocks of political, economic and social life. You are also working to break down the walls of discord and division, inspiring a spirit of brotherhood and cooperation based on citizenship and membership of a country that needs the contribution of all its sons and all its components to be reborn into progress and stability. In this you realize what Jesus Christ invites us to by His death and His Resurrection, and what the apostle Paul expresses: “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have become near by the blood of Christ ... For he is our peace, he who made both one and broke down the dividing wall of enmity ... through his flesh ... Through the cross, putting that enmity to death by it. He came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near ...So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God” (Eph 2, 13-19).

Along with you, Mr President, and along with all people of good will, we operate as a Church, for the unity of the Lebanese people with all its faiths and its components, far away from any division and enmity, far away from any kind of unilateral and biased position. The value of this country lies in its cultural, religious and political plurality, the heart of democracy founded on the coexistence in equality of the rights and duties before the law, on the respect for diversity at all levels, on the promotion of civil liberties, and particularly those of opinion, expression and faith, and the guarantee of fundamental human rights.

We work along with you to avoid the involvement of our country in the logic of alliances and regional or international agreements on a political, religious or sectarian basis. Lebanon, because of its geographical and political configuration, is called on to be neutral. In this way Lebanon can be a factor of stability in the region, and an oasis for encounter and dialogue for cultures and religions, the most committed in the defense of the cause [thus in the French, in Arabic “in the issues”, ed] of the Arab countries and the international community to establish peace and justice, confront violence and terrorism, promote values ​​of modernity, playing a role of bridge between East and West.

In the Apostolic Exhortation A New Hope for Lebanon one reads: “The construction of the society is common to all Lebanese” (§ 1). We should not then exclude, forget, or rule out anyone. The different political options should remain a richness and a means to achieve the common good, from which the good of every person derives. Are political choices not perhaps different variations of the art of the possible? No political decision can be taken for absolute. All choices are relative, because they adopt the best means to implement the general principles and national traditions, in the service of the common good, the Lebanese citizen, of society and the nation. It asks only that the choices remain faithful to the general principles and national traditions, as well as the objectives of the choices themselves.

“You seek Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified. He has been raised; he is not here” (Mk 16, 6). This is the witness of the angel to the women. But the Resurrection is, in origin, the witness of God concerning Jesus Christ, the witness confirmed by the Apostle Peter: “They put him to death by hanging him on a tree. This man God raised (on) the third day, of this we are all witnesses” (Acts 2, 32; 10, 38-40); and Paul at the Areopagus in Athens: “and he has provided confirmation for all by raising him from the dead” (Acts 17, 31). Guarantee of our spiritual resurrection – thanks to repentance – and physical – thanks to the resurrection of the flesh. Guarantee of the truth of Christ and the authenticity of His person and His mission. This guarantee is perpetuated in the world by the action of the Holy Spirit which “will convict the world in regard to sin and righteousness and condemnation: sin, because they do not believe in me; righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will no longer see me; condemnation, because the ruler of this world has been condemned” (Jn 16, 8-11). According to Paul, the Resurrection of Christ is the basis on which the Christian faith is built: “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain ... we are false witnesses ... we are the most pitiable people of all” (1 Cor 15, 14-15 and 19).

By His Resurrection Christ became our peace (Eph 2, 14), the basis of our being children of God, and brotherhood among men. After His Resurrection, Christ often used the words ‘fraternity’, ‘peace’ and ‘being children of God’. To Mary Magdalene weeping at the tomb on the morning of Easter Sunday, Christ appeared and said: “But go to my brothers and tell them, I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God” (Jn 20, 17). Through Christ, all men have become brothers, and through Christ Son of the eternal God all believers have become children of God. We believe in this new identity, we teach it and work for its realization.

Every time Christ appeared to His disciples during the forty days, He greeted them saying, “Peace be with you” (Jn 20, 19 and 26); with this greeting He gave them security and inner peace, erased the fear from their hearts , showed the signs and comforted them in their mission. The peace of Christ is the culture we preach, the choice that we always maintain, because the condition as children of God translates itself into actions and initiatives for peace, according to the word of Christ the Lord: “Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God” (Mt 5, 9).

The Resurrection of Christ from the dead is the guarantee of the resurrection of hearts from the death of sin and evil. Christ is alive: He is present in the Church and acts in the world until the end of time (cf. Mt 28, 20). Present and active by means of His living word, of His body and His blood in the sacrament of the Eucharist, of the grace of the sacraments, of his Spirit, holy and living, who realizes among the faithful the fruits of the Redemption and Salvation.

Christ resurrected from the dead is close to every man, contemporary to every man. He is the Lord “who is and who was and who is to come” (Rev 1, 4); He is the one that the Church, who all believers call on every day, “Come, Lord Jesus!” (Rev 22, 20). To You praise and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Christ is risen! He is truly risen!