Christ is risen, he is risen indeed.
Our Easter message is a message of victory over death, a message of joy and hope, against all hopelessness.
Our land is the land of the resurrection for the whole world, yet it is still a land of death, prisons, tortures, demolition of houses, a people under occupation claiming their freedom and dignity, two peoples unable to see their proper place in the land of God.
The whole Middle-East in on the cross, between state terrorism on the one hand and terrorism in the name of religion on the other.
We saw what happened in Egypt, in two Coptic churches, where worshipers were massacred while celebrating Palm Sunday.
In Syria also chemical weapons added death upon death in the region. Who did it? The criminals alone know who did it.
"For your sake we are being massacred all day long. Wake, Lord! Why are you asleep? Awake! Do not abandon us" ((Ps 44:22,23).
We live the glory of the Resurrection. Yet we ask: Lord why is there so much death in the region, where you incarnated, where you showed compassion to the entire humanity, where you gave your life for the salvation of all humanity, and where you have triumphed over death and evil?
Why our land and our region remain under the sign of death? Yes, you foretold us: "In the world you will have hardships\, but be courageous, I have conquered the world" (Jn 16: 33).
Saint Paul tells us: "Since you have been raised up to be with Christ, you must look for the things that are above(Col 3: 1)". We look above, to the highest, where the power of the Almighty is over every power. Christmas message resounds with Easter message: glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace and glory, for people of good will.
Death surrounds us. Nevertheless we look to the highest.
The light of the Resurrection is our strength. The light of martyrs is our strength. In God's power, justice, and peace, with the power of our love, and our hope, we will remain strong enough until the hour of light, justice, peace and love prevail in our land.
We strengthen hope in ourselves and in every heart afflicted, suffering or even despaired in the land of the resurrection.
Easter is the feast that marks the passage from servitude to freedom, from death to life, from war to reconciliation. This is the Easter message, a message of liberation and reconciliation. Those who love this land, Palestine or Israel, should strive by all means to help us achieve liberation and reconciliation; liberation from the death that dwells in the souls, and that keeps producing death in our region, and reconciliation to change hatred and death into love and life.
We look to the highest to see the glory of the Resurrection that took place here. Freedom does not seem to be coming soon. Yet, we believe that freedom is grounded in the glory and in the hope of the Resurrection.
Christ is risen for all humankind, so that all can live the joy of the Resurrection despite all hardships and realities of death. Christ is risen, he is risen indeed.
Jerusalem, 16 April 2017