“He is Risen” 

On Easter Sunday, 20 years ago, Pope Benedict XVI gave his first Easter Urbi et Orbi speech to the city of Rome and to the world, following the tradition established by his predecessors. From the balcony overlooking St. Peter’s Square, he repeated to the crowds the words of the angel to the women who went to Our Lord’s tomb the morning of that first Easter Sunday: “He is not here . . . he is risen.” Continuing, the Holy Father said: “the Son of God did not remain in the tomb, because it was not possible for him to be held prisoner by death and the tomb could not hold on to ‘the living one’ who is the very source of life. Like Jonah in the belly of the whale, so too Christ crucified was swallowed up into the heart of the earth for the length of a Sabbath.” Benedict noted that the Gospel of St. John describes that Sabbath, which we refer to as Holy Saturday, as particularly sacred to the Jews, as it coincided with their celebration of the Passover. Christ transformed that particular high holy day into, “the highest in history, because it was then that [Jesus] the ‘Lord of the Sabbath,’ brought to fulfilment the work of creation, raising man and the entire cosmos to the glorious liberty of the children of God.” The Holy Father continued: “When this extraordinary work had been accomplished, the lifeless body was suffused with the living breath of God and, as the walls of the tomb were shattered, he rose in glory. That is why the angels proclaim ‘he is not here,’ [for] he can no longer be found in the tomb. He made his pilgrim way on earth among us, he completed his journey in the tomb as all men do, but he conquered death and, in an absolutely new way, by an act of pure love, he opened the earth, threw it open towards Heaven.” 

Proclaiming the good news of Our Lord’s victory, Pope Benedict then explained what this means for us. “His resurrection becomes our resurrection, through Baptism which ‘incorporates’ us into him. The prophet Ezekiel had foretold this: ‘Behold, I will open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you home into the land of Israel.’ These prophetic words take on a singular value on Easter Day, because today the Creator’s promise is fulfilled; today, even in this modern age marked by anxiety and uncertainty, we relive the event of the Resurrection, which changed the face of our life and changed the history of humanity. From the risen Christ, all those who are still oppressed by chains of suffering and death look for hope, sometimes even without knowing it.” 

While it is true that, in many ways, the world of 2006 was very different than the world of 2026, the deepest desires of the human heart are the same today as they were then. They are the same as they were 2000 years ago. Indeed, they remain what they were the day our first parents left the Garden of Eden. The Risen Christ is the fulfillment of those desires. 

On behalf of Fr. Mariusz, Deacon Larry, and our parish staff, I wish you and your loved ones a blessed Easter. 

posted 4/4/26