predication.net

It is easy to know the existence of God. Nothing is more natural to man than to get from the effects to the cause. St. Augustine debates with the unbeliever. How do I know that thou livest when I cannot see the principle of thy life? Thou answerest me. Thou knowest that I live, for I speak, I move, I work. And I am to believe that thou livest, that thou workest, that thou makest works. Why don’t you believe in the Creator when you see his creatures? He who sees nothing by so much light must be blind. At the sight of such wonders, he who does not utter a shout of wonder must be dumb.

St. Bernard paints a portrait of God. He is the one who is. He is pure, uncomplicated, flawless, always constant. He neither gains nor loses. He is indivisible. He lacks nothing, for He possesses everything. God is the embodiment of all perfections. Let us consider some perfections like goodness, justice, and mercy. God is not merely good, just, and merciful, but He is goodness, mercy, and justice personified. God is perfect, without a hint of imperfection. God comprehends everything directly, immediately, in a single eternal glance, fully. God does not alter. Everything around Him changes, yet He remains unchanging. The eternity of God is a result of His immutability. St. Augustine queries, Who then are you, my God? Who are You but the Lord, the Highest, the Best, the Mightiest, the Most Merciful, the Most Just, Loving but without passion, jealous but without unrest? You are sorrowful but without grief; you are angry but serene.

Jesus told the crowd: “Only he who is drawn by the Father who sent me can come to me.” Jesus teaches that faith in him is God’s grace. But this divine grace has specific human prerequisites. A little further, we hear: “And everyone who hears the Father and learns from him comes to me.” Where can we hear the Father’s voice? That voice of God the Father is our conscience. God already placed God’s Word in man’s heart at the creation of man. God’s Word is present in our most secret interior, and we, if we are honest with ourselves, must admit that Jesus speaks in harmony with what our conscience says; he speaks from the depths of our hearts.

Whoever does not respect the voice of his conscience and does not heed it cannot come to Christ. But, those who live according to their conscience can open themselves to Christ and his saving intervention. He can recognize Christ as the Word of God through whom all things were created. We all carry it inside us, as our most secret inside, as our most hidden desire for bliss, beauty, truth, and a whole life. When an unbelieving person encounters the proclamation of Christ and is at least a little honest with himself, he must state that all that Christ teaches is in the deepest depths of his heart. Christ reveals to us, as if from without, the Word through which we were created, the Word for which we were created. It shows with sense and reason what is already subjective in our hearts.

“And everyone who has heard the Father and has been taught comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father; only he who is from God has seen the Father”. We are not all mystics, so after a long and detailed purification, we can discover the image of God in the depths of our souls and allow ourselves to be transformed according to this image. That is why God himself appears as the Incarnate Word and enters our human reality. It also enters our consciousness through our senses. Our body also needs to touch the Body of Christ with our senses. According to him, we want to be shaped. Even with our humanity, we have to enter the reality of God.

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believed hath eternal life.” What is eternal Life? Eternal Life is constant development, constant growth into the likeness of the Infinite and Boundless Father. This happens when we accept Christ as our Life. Death appears to us after original sin as a gracious limitation of our misguided growth. God does not want a corrupt and depraved man to become the ruler of all things. He does not want the tyranny of human depravity to rule forever. But when we begin to develop by his will and Word, he desires and wants us to exist forever. Jesus himself is the Word, the Seed, the Grain, which will grow by its power in the space of our willingness. You have to accept it by faith.

“I am the Bread of Life. Your fathers ate manna in the desert and died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, and whoever eats it will not die.” When we live from Christ and his mysteries, God guarantees us eternal Life. We no longer experience death as a catastrophe, as the definitive destruction of human power, but as a transition to a higher world where we will be able to know God more directly.“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. And the Bread I will give is my body, which I will sacrifice for the Life of the world.” Before going further in meditation, let’s think about Bread’s mission and essence. The essence of Bread is to convey to us the vital energy from the Sun so that we can work and grow. Without earthly bread, our purely material existence would be extinguished. We would have to die. Besides giving us the energy we need, the Bread we eat also gives us the elements from which our body is built. We eat bread, but we turn it into our flesh. But Jesus declares himself to be the living Bread. That is, not the bread that participates in us in the quickening. The Bread we buy in the store is dead bread. Many living grains had to pass through the fiery furnace of death so we could partake of it. Jesus is the living Bread who has the power to transform us into his likeness. If we live from this bread, we will live forever. The Eucharist is the fruit of the Tree of Life, which is in the middle of Paradise. The Tree of Life is the Torah, the eternal law of God. The Law of Eternal Life. The Cross of Christ. Jesus is the Bread of Life, the living Bread. He is Bread by his essence because he gives Life. He becomes bread at the moment of transformation. He is the eternal Bread. He chooses earthly bread as the material of this most beautiful sacrament because it best corresponds to Jesus’s nature. He is as good as a piece of Bread.

Jesus introduces himself: “I am the living Bread that came down from heaven.” Whoever eats this bread will live forever. And the Bread I will give is my body, which I will offer for the Life of the world.” The world lives and exists from the sacrifice. Life would be extinguished if love’s ability to sacrifice was extinguished between us. The Sun would cease to emit Light, the Sun would refuse to eat, and man would cease to reproduce because every new man comes into this world at the cost of a sacrifice.

The Eucharist is the food from which we can draw strength for sacrifice. The Eucharist is a sacrifice. “The bread that I give is my body, which I sacrifice for the life of the world.” In this verse, there is an allusion to the life-giving death of Christ on the cross, from which springs of new Life sprung, but at the same time, there is a reference to the Mysterious Body of Christ, which became the bearer of this new Life. Christ has conquered sin and death in this body, and now he invites us to draw strength from him for the struggle.

Nicodemus

God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son › Jn 3, 16. Jesus’

The conversation with Nicodemus is one of the most critical dialogues in the New Testament. Nicodemus’ coming to Jesus secretly at night indicates the darkness of unbelief. His visit and this whole conversation are shrouded in obscurity. John’s penchant for solid contrasts, such as dark and light, can be seen in this highly symbolic story. Nicodemus is a fascinating character. He longed for Jesus’ teachings, but initially, he was considerate of others, so he came to him at night (cf. Jn 3:1-21).

Jesus did not condemn him. His prominent role and position in the Jewish High Council made him the guardian of a great tradition. Many considered him an expert on God! S He was a member of the Jewish Council and, at the same time, a member of the party of the Pharisees. He was more a member of the Sanhedrin than a Pharisee, as evidenced by Jesus’ remark in the course of the conversation, when, in response to Nicodemus’s ignorance of the fact that man is born not only through the flesh but also through the Spirit, the young prophet told him quite bluntly: “You are the teacher of Israel, and do you not know this?” (Jn 3:10). So we must be born again. But what do these words mean?

Jesus Christ did not hide his teaching. Since the baptism in Jordan, it has been associated with his public activities, which brought him many inconveniences, escalated, and increased in intensity, eventually leading to attempts to discredit him. A scandal for the religious and political zealots of the time was the teaching of Jesus, in which he pointed to God’s will to save man, while he was concerned not only with an individual but with the whole of God’s people. The people and the community that Jesus gathered around him were significantly different from the society of that time. It is to him that the words about the rebirth of man apply. The new man is to be the earth’s salt and the world’s light (cf. Mt 5, 13-14).

Jesus‘ teachings to Nicodemus go beyond theological information. He speaks of the need to experience God’s presence and offer oneself to God. The new birth from above, as Jesus describes it, is not a physical re-entry into the mother’s womb but a spiritual rebirth made possible by the Holy Spirit. This concept of rebirth carries a profound message of hope and transformation.

In the book Nicodemus Letters, consisting of twenty-five letters written by the learned Pharisee Nicodemus to his teacher Rabbi Justus, the writer Jan Dobraczyňski from Ola described the dialogue between Jesus and Nicodemus as follows: “I speak to you about earthly things – and you do not believe. How will you believe me when I tell you about heavenly things? Only the one who came down from heaven knows how to get there: the son of man, who came from the sky. As if he didn’t say it to me, he didn’t even look at me. His eyes were staring into space. The calm and sonorous voice grew stronger with every word. I looked at his face, stealthily and timidly. I still didn’t understand what he was talking about, and I don’t know if there would be a person who could understand it: his thoughts exceeded his words… He speaks like a sage or like a madman… To be born again? How? Does that mean there is anything to know? Understand? Discover? What is it talking about? I felt only one thing: how stupid my remark about the old man about to turn into a baby was. And he must have had in mind some sublime secret of the Spirit.”

In an interview, Miguel Angel García Morcuende, the chief councilor for the youth ministry of the Salesian order, describes the differences between the youth in Central and Eastern Europe and the West. 

He talks about the fact that young people today live in great uncertainty and need to have someone with them who will listen to them.

According to the Spanish Salesian, the recipe for showing faith to young people is a personal testimony and a language that will be close to young people. He points out that even Jesus used parables that people of that time understood.

Miguel Angel García Morcuende (1967) comes from Madrid. He is an expert in spiritual guidance and vocation discernment. He is the author of several publications and courses aimed at teachers and education.

For six years he was the delegate for the youth ministry in the Salesian Province in Madrid. He was a member of the team of the Dicastery for Youth Service at the General Directorate of the Salesians in Rome as head of the school/vocational training department (2010-2017) and also taught in several Salesian schools.

Since 2020, he has been a councilor for the youth ministry of the Salesian order. His task is to revive and direct Salesian educational and apostolic activities. It helps the provinces in developing their pastoral plans and commitments so that they are faithful to the spirit of Don Bosco and adequately respond to the needs of the times and different places.

The Superior General of the Salesians, Angél Fernandéz Ártime, was recently appointed a cardinal. What does this mean for the Salesian family?

It was a big surprise for everyone. It is the first time in history that the chief superior is given such a high office in the church. His nomination as a cardinal was a decision made by the Holy Father himself without any prior consultation or involvement.

It means to us that the Pope has great respect for the work of the Salesians and values ​​it. We perceive this award primarily through the figure of Don Ángel, but it is also an award for all Salesians who work in 136 countries around the world. Don Ártime has a good overview of the church and young people in the world and knows the cultural contexts in all parts of the world.

Will the Salesian Congregation not miss such a personality, since Fr Ártime will work in the Roman Curia?

Yes, he will be missed. But we are convinced that if the Lord wants the congregation to continue, he will find another suitable superior. Within the Salesian order, you are in charge of youth ministry. What are young people like in Europe today?

Young people today live in uncertainty. It concerns work, the future, and society. This is a great challenge for us Salesians and educators. On the other hand, we see young people as open and communicative. Young people in Europe talk about what they live and feel. They need to always have someone next to them who listens to them.

The third thing, young people in Europe have a desire for spirituality. The society of sufficiency in which we live does not always respond to the deepest human needs. If we can give young people deeper offers, many respond to it. They have a great thirst for the meaning of life, and thus the religious question immediately comes to the surface.

Photo: John Smith

You say that young people have a desire for spirituality. But this generation is said to be losing faith in God. In many countries, we see empty churches. So how is it?

First of all, we need to rediscover the narrative language of faith. Young people need the essence of faith to be retold in a different way than we are used to. It is one of the great difficulties we face.

What attracts young people the most are testimonies and witnesses. If we cannot win the heart of a young person with our authenticity and naturalness, then it is very difficult to win him for something else. 

We also perceive the need for the liturgical celebration and celebration of faith to be rethought. This means that we need to strengthen participation more and help them better understand God’s word, which would be suitable for them, and it is also important to prepare the liturgical spaces well.

In some national conclusions from the Synod on synodality, young people said that they do not understand the church and the church language, which is too clerical. You also say that young people need to hear about faith in another language. How is that possible?

When we look at the Gospel, Jesus talks about the kingdom of God through parables. In the parables, he used the language of everyday gestures and everyday life that everyone could understand. In a country that was engaged in agriculture, he talked about fields, vines, and sheep. We need to work towards a language that would talk about the reality in which young people live.

We need to retell our experience of faith to young people.

Today we see that young people are sensitive to relationships and friendship. So the key to talking about Jesus must be that Jesus is someone who likes me and who wants me well. 

There is someone with whom I can put my trust because he shows me how I can be a more complete person. Jesus was a full-fledged human being, even in feelings and emotions, and in this way, we need to bring the character of Jesus closer to young people.

And does this model work?

Yes. In the Salesian congregation, among the brothers and also among the laity, we perceive as if they changed the register and started to play a different note. But it is also true that sometimes we simplify catechesis and reduce it to only some knowledge and an intellectual matter.

In which countries does this new model work?

In some Salesian provinces, they greatly improved the level of liturgical music. They have introduced songs that are adapted to the language of the young. In other places, they attach great importance to the preparation of the liturgical place. They create space for lighting, there are more colors, and they try to make the liturgy a matter of assembly, so they sit on the ground or in a circle.

It is primarily about the fact that Jesus presented himself as a person who had courage. The Virgin Mary is presented as a mother and a wife. Sometimes even the idea and image of our founder, Don Bosco, seem to be detached from reality. That’s why we also try to bring it closer to young people.

How to talk about God with young people today? Maybe they will come to the Salesian oratory or the parish to play and experience fellowship. But what if they don’t want to talk about God? How to reach them to think that there is something deeper?

It could be said that it is a pedagogy consisting of three steps. The first step is to be interested in the lives of young people. It is necessary to enter into their lives, desires, and experiences so that they understand that we are truly interested in them and their lives. 

Often it is the other way around and we want them to be interested in us and to be interested in the God we want to bring to them.

The second step is also very important. In it, we need to retell our experience of faith, because Jesus has become someone important in our lives. We do not sell any product or goods, but we talk about what we experience.

It is this second phase that is very significant because Christianity was born in this way and in this methodology. Christianity was born out of listening. People heard the testimony of the first Christians.

The third moment is to present Jesus as the one who gives meaning to my life. Sometimes we present Jesus as the God-man in both his human and divine nature and forget that young people also have desires and needs, or we don’t talk about who Jesus is for us.

Can wealth also influence the loss of faith among young people in Europe?

( Silence. ) Yes. I think so. If a young person fills his heart with many things, there will be no room left for God. We all have some desires and expectations in life, but if we feed our hearts primarily with material desires, then it will be very difficult to desire God.

Another problem is that today’s time is too sexualized. Pornography is readily available. The Salesians in Slovakia also have education for responsible love as the main theme in their pastoral and educational project. Is it a issue elsewhere in Europe?

The essential thing in the educational model we offer is that young people feel that they are loved and that we love them. We must not be afraid of any young person in any situation. Some young people are very wounded in their emotional and emotional lives. Some live emotionally as orphans, despite having a family.

How would you feel if someone came up to you and offered you an amazing thing for free? Would we be surprised? But at first, we would not believe it and ask about all the conditions around this, because we already know it from so many so-called winnings, e.g., The Audi A8 is certainly already yours, you just need to order the goods for y- money. If there were no conditions, we would take it immediately. God also has wonderful offers for us; we just need to listen well to learn to use these offers well and not be afraid to ask if something is unclear to us. Mária received a unique offer that has never been repeated in history. This offer made her an important woman chosen by God himself. But no one pressured her; she was free to decide. And she doesn’t rush headlong into anything, not out of fear. She asks what and how so that she can consider the whole situation and her role, and when she receives clear answers, trusting in God, she obediently answers “yes.” Mary is the exact opposite of King Ahaz from the first reading, who does not want to know anything and does not want to ask so that he can do his own thing and not have to follow God’s will. And he supports it with pious sayings that he should not tempt God. But the opposite is true; he doesn’t want to try – to do well, he doesn’t want to listen to wise advice. And we can already guess the end.

The basis of our successful life is to obey. And it does not only bind children and youth but everyone until old age. We know that obedience is not an easy thing at all. It seems that man cannot do as he pleases like this. But from our experience, we see that the goal of obedience is not restriction but the good of a person who can avoid negative experiences without their own doing, which we may have already bounced off ourselves and learned something that way. And we want to pass on this wisdom. At the same time, obedience helps us find our place in life. God knows where we would be most useful; that is, we would bear much fruit. You just have to follow some signs – your skills, grades, desires, hobbies, etc. And at the same time, we ask a lot, especially in prayer, to clarify what God wants from us. At the same time, you need to be inspired by people, their examples, and advice. They have already experienced a lot themselves, so they can help us. Being taught is not a sign of stupidity but of intelligence, because stupid people think they already know everything and only the intelligent know their limits. Maybe sometimes you have to overcome the limits of some shame to ask. If it helps us, we must realize that shame is a sign of pride that does not want to be defeated. And if we want to learn something, it costs us nothing to ask, and the answers give us a lot.

Young Hans, from one fairy tale, decided to go to higher school. He left his native village and went to study in Hamburg. After a year, he thought he had gained enough experience, so he returned home, welcomed almost as a doctor, and made mayor of the village. He was the first to order what would be sown, where to plant, etc. Not everyone liked it because their fathers taught them a different procedure, but they took the doctor’s word as they began to address him, except for one elderly farmer, Thomas, who was doing things the old way. The crop came out, but not as expected, while Thomas had decent yields. The following year, Hans ordered the forest on the slope to be cut down so that there would be better land there. But the rains came and washed everything down the hill. The village almost started to starve; only Thomas had enough of everything. Therefore, Hans, fearing for his post, told the villagers that Hans was a witch and should be burned. It almost happened, but Thomas didn’t give in and started to defend himself. But it didn’t help much. Finally, the oldest member of the village, whom everyone respected, spoke up. Until now, he has been silent because he wants people to learn from their deafness and stupidity and to prove Thomas right. Then they made him mayor, and Hans was kicked out. Let’s listen and obey the advice of experienced neighbors and God’s signs that want to show us the best way.

The proverb says: “Repetition is the mother of wisdom.” We know that those who want to achieve something great often have to start again and again and overcome initial failures and difficulties, and only then can we talk about victory. A passage from the Gospel draws our attention to Christ’s actions after his resurrection. Jesus rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart. From these words of Jesus, we can feel instruction and encouragement for us in our struggles for a deeper faith and a stronger attachment to Christ. This excerpt from the Gospel is from Mark’s appendix, where he recapitulates the revelation of the Lord Jesus from the other gospels after his resurrection, first to Mary Magdalene, to the two Emmaus disciples, and finally to the eleven apostles at the table. After his resurrection, Jesus must start with his disciples from the beginning.

All the enthusiasm and zeal of the three years they spent with Jesus seems to have evaporated. However, Jesus continues to free his apostles from sadness and hopelessness, and even here, we encounter real unbelief, the hardness of the apostles’ hearts because they did not believe those who saw the resurrected Christ. This struggle of the apostles, their doubts, and disbelief, is not unfamiliar to us in our faith journey. Jesus approaches the apostles again and awakens faith in them, in this small group of people, because he knows that they will soon become the foundation of the future Church. Even this doubt of theirs will serve many to accept the faith and teachings of Christ. Therefore, Jesus seems to be working again to awaken the shaken faith of his apostles. In the Gospel, Mark uses the words – to all creation. We can say that in this designation it is a missionary terminology that is used for Christians from paganism, where we understand that all people, the whole creation are to meet the preaching of the Gospel and be transformed for us.

This Gospel is a struggle between Jesus and Peter, John and Thomas, but it is also about us. After all, we have not seen Jesus; we have not touched his pierced hands and side, and yet we believe. Why? Because Jesus addressed us, he wrestled with us like his first apostles. And so he also invites us to follow him, bear witness, and proudly multiply the ranks of those who believed in one universal, apostolic Church from the beginning. Whoever believes in Christ must also persevere with him and must try to get out of doubt and cowardice because Christ wants us to be like that.

Christ wants us to be soulful and joyful heralds of good news; this is our task. Everyone who has accepted baptism also accepts this role. This is not a task for the chosen few but for all of us. Whoever wants to carry out this task must believe and not doubt. Jesus rebukes unbelief. His disciple must not be an unbeliever. We are Christian believers who were reincarnated to Christ through baptism and became his apostles. We, therefore, must testify about Christ. It is not enough to stay with the theory. How and when should we testify? We have to remind ourselves again that a good example is a fundamental way to prove with our lives that we are imbued with faith in the glorified Lord Jesus. We must not underestimate this way of apostolate, the apostolate of the word is correct, but we know that the world does not believe much in words, but wants deeds. Furthermore, we believe that life is more powerful than words.

From St.’s life, We know Francis of Assisi’s teachings. Once, he invited one of his fellow brothers, who was a well-known and famous preacher, to preach. From the morning, this brother and František walked the city streets. In the evening, he impatiently asked František when he would preach. Then Francis seriously said to him: – My brother, you have been preaching to those we meet with since morning. And lo, what does this mean for the practice of our life? We should set an example in our own lives, above all, in our families. Parents to children, man to woman, woman to man, and then to everyone else, excluding no one, our life and not just our words should address. All who meet us must see from our life that we believe in the resurrection of the body, in eternal life, in Jesus Christ. This requires constant starting and repetition in our lives. We must not be disgusted because the example is Jesus Christ himself, who repeatedly instructs and encourages his apostles after his resurrection. 

THE CITY of Magdala lay on the shore of Lake Gennesaret. Jesus spent pleasant moments there and performed many miracles. Mary came from there, one of the women who followed the Lord, and was freed from seven demons. Her faithfulness brought her to Calvary, where she was close to the Virgin Mary on Passion Friday. The following Sunday, she got up early, before dawn, left the city, and went to the tomb where Jesus’ body was laid. Her love overcame fear because she had the strength of a person who loves and wants to love more and more.

We can imagine her walking briskly, with some fear of being discovered at the city gate. She carries a bag of fragrant herbs and bandages to complete the embalming of the Lord. She goes there to anoint his motionless body. On the way, she passes by Mount Calvary, forcing her to relive Friday’s pain. However, when he arrives at the grave, he is surprised that no soldiers guard the place. In addition, the stone that previously covered the entrance was moved a few meters away. Then, in tears, she sees that the tomb is empty. “Woman, why are you crying?” (Jn 20:13); unknown people – angels – ask her when they see her depressed. Magdalena’s answer is touching: “They took my Lord away and I don’t know where they put him”.

She missed Jesus. He cannot bear to lose sight of him. Mary’s tears are an example of courage and tenderness. The one she loved most in the world had died a cruel death, and now his body was gone. She did not even have the comfort of anointing his body. During Saturday, her thoughts flew to the grave again and again, and she longed to show him her affection at first light on Sunday! Magdalene’s tears teach us that the natural fear of God is the fear of losing him, of not being aware of his closeness, of overlooking his pleas and graces. As St. Josemaría often emphasized, “we are not well without Jesus “[1]. He is everything.

The resurrected Jesus calls her by name …

“EMPTY TOMB! Mary Magdalene is crying, a sea of ​​tears. He needs a Master. She went there to console herself a little by being close to him, to keep him company, because without our Lord she has no value,” St. Josemaría once reflected. “Maria persistently continues to pray, looks for him everywhere, and thinks only of him. My children, in the face of such faithfulness, God cannot resist” 

“Woman, why are you crying, who are you looking for?” (Jn 20:15) Christ himself asked her when he met her later. At first, Maria mistook him for the man in charge of the garden where the grave was located. Amid confusion and tears, paying enough attention to the surroundings was not easy. So he replies: “If you took it away, tell me where it is, and I’ll pick it up.” In reality, Mary Magdalene probably would not have been able to carry such a heavy body, but again, difficulties are no obstacle to her love. “Poor Magdalena, exhausted by the fatigue of Good Friday, exhausted by the anxiety of White Saturday. Her powers are weakened to the extreme, and she still thought of carrying him!” 

Only when Jesus pronounces her name – “Mary!” (Jn 20, 16) – with his exceptional intonation does he realize that he has Christ in his glorified body before him. “How beautiful it is to think that the first appearance of the Risen One took place in such a personal way! That there is someone who knows us, sees our suffering and disappointment, is moved by us, and calls us by name “[4]. The reward for Magdalena’s faithful love is now the contemplation of the beauty of the Risen One. She risked her life for Jesus and passionately sought him, and the Lord repaid her with full commitment. Emotions took over her; she threw herself at his feet and clung to him. It was an eloquent gesture: she no longer wanted to lose Christ. She suffered too much contemplating the Master’s humiliation and thought she had lost him forever. “The tenderness with which Jesus treats this woman, who was used by many and condemned by all, is impressive. She finally found in Jesus’ clear eyes a heart capable of loving without exploding. She accepted the revelation of God’s love in Jesus’ gaze and his heart” 

The joy of the first announcement …

THE PATH that Mary Magdalene will travel before she meets the glorious Christ is, in a sense, similar to the path of all Christians: to rise humbly from falls; to seek the Lord without stopping in moments of discouragement; to care for others; to accompany Jesus when the cross unexpectedly appears; not to lose hope, even when everything seems dark because Jesus is alive.

Just as it happened to her: the voice of Jesus, speaking our name with a very personal accent, awakens us and pulls us out of discouragement. Living attentively to his voice, attentive to what Christ wants to tell us at every moment, transforms everyday life into a constant opportunity for love. “Humanity needs such women and men: able to tirelessly turn to God’s mercy, faithful at the foot of the cross, attentive to hear – in the ordinary tasks of every day – the very name from the mouth of the Risen One” [6]. Mary was the first among the disciples to see the resurrected Jesus. Her tears of sadness turned to tears of emotion within seconds. Jesus entrusts this faithful woman with the first announcement of the great news: “Do not hold me… Go to my brothers and tell them: I ascend to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God” (Jn 20, 18). The sorrow of her heart turned into a feast that cannot be described.

Before our eyes, the figure of this woman running to Jerusalem becomes excellent. On his lips, he carries a message of hope for Christ’s disciples and the whole world: The Lord lives; he has risen from the dead! In her heart now reigns the living joy of Easter, which springs from the empty tomb and floods the entire world. Next to the mother of Jesus, Magdalena is the happiest woman on earth at that moment.