Chronicle Editor
Pope Francis led Catholics into Easter at a vigil Mass on Saturday night and called on worshippers to live for God, not fleeting things such as wealth or success.
The Pontiff held the service in St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican and carved into a candle the number to mark the year 2019 and the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, Alpha and Omega, to signify that God is the beginning and end of all things.
Pope Francis also delivered his homily around the Bible account of the women who went to Jesus’ tomb only to find it empty and the large stone that had sealed it had been cast away.
“God takes away even the hardest stones against which our hopes and expectations crash: death, sin, fear, worldliness,” the pontiff said.
Adding: “There is another stone that often seals the heart shut: the stone of sin. Sin seduces; it promises things easy and quick, prosperity and success, but then leaves behind only solitude and death. Sin is looking for life among the dead, for the meaning of life in things that pass away.”
Easter is the most important day in the Roman Catholic calendar, which commemorates the day believers say Jesus rose from the dead.
After celebrating Easter Mass with crowds gathered in St. Peter’s Square yesterday morning, Pope Francis gave a prepared speech from the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica at midday.
In his annual Easter “Urbi et Orbi” (Latin for “to the city and to the world”) address, Pope Francis offered a pardon for sins and a reflection on the world’s war-ravaged regions while paying tribute to Catholics who practice their faith in the face of persecution. He condemned the “odious” attacks in Sri Lanka.
“I want to express my affectionate closeness with the Christian community, attacked while it was at prayer, and to all the victims of such cruel violence,” the pope told the assembled crowd.
Pope Francis urged people to become “builders of bridges, not walls” and to end “the roar of arms,” both in conflict zones and within cities.
In the days prior, Francis presided over the Via Crucis procession at the Colosseum in Rome and washed the feet of 12 inmates in a prison near Rome to mirror Jesus Christ’s gesture of humility towards his disciples. – AP
Online Reporter