Pope: Easter spurs us to seek the risen Lord with hope and joy

Image: Vatican Media

Source: Vatican Media

In his Easter morning Mass homily, read by Cardinal Angelo Comastri, Pope Francis encouraged everyone to hasten to seek the risen Lord, like the first disciples, and to renew the gift of hope within us, sharing with those we meet along our life journey.

Presiding over the Mass on behalf of the Holy Father, Cardinal Comastri welcomed more than 50,000 faithful gathered in a flower-filled Saint Peter's Square for Mass on Easter Sunday morning. The flowers were provided by Dutch florists - the 39th year marks they have done so. Tens of thousands of flowers adorned Saint Peter's Square and Basilica in an intricate, colourful layout.

In his homily Pope Francis recalled how Mary Magdalene, Peter, and John all made haste in discovering and witnessing the empty tomb. This "running" to see what happened reflected not only a concern the Lord's body had been taken way, but a desire, "the yearning of the heart, the inner attitude of those who set out to search for Jesus." The Lord has risen from the dead and "we must look for him elsewhere."

The message of Easter is precisely that "Christ is risen, he is alive!" the Pope emphasized, "no longer a prisoner of death." This requires that we "take action", he said, setting out to find the Lord in our lives, in our brothers and sisters, in our everyday experiences - "everywhere except in the tomb."

"Christ is present everywhere, he dwells among us, he hides himself and reveals himself even today in the sisters and brothers we meet along the way, in the most ordinary and unpredictable situations of our lives. He is alive and is with us always, shedding the tears of those who suffer and adding to the beauty of life through the small acts of love carried out by each of us."

Easter faith opens the door to encountering the risen Lord and welcoming him into our lives, the Pope continued. This reality of Easter "spurs us to action... to run like Mary Magdalene and the disciples" to seek and meet the Lord, to have eyes that "see beyond" and to experience Jesus as "the one who lives" and is present with us today, going before us, helping us, surprising us.

"Like Mary Magdalene, every day we can experience losing the Lord, but every day we can also run to look for him again, with the certainty that he will allow himself to be found and will fill us with the light of his resurrection."

"Brothers and sisters, this is the greatest hope of our life: we can live this poor, fragile and wounded existence clinging to Christ, because he has conquered death, he conquers our darkness and he will conquer the shadows of the world, to make us live with him in joy, forever."

"The Jubilee invites us to renew the gift of hope within us, to surrender our sufferings and our concerns to hope, to share it with those whom we meet along our journey and to entrust to hope the future of our lives and the destiny of the human family."

The Pope in his homily said we should not settle for the fleeting things of this world or give into sadness, but instead "we must run, filled with joy" in meeting the Lord and rediscovering "the inestimable grace of being his friends.

"Sisters, brothers, in the wonder of the Easter faith, carrying in our hearts every expectation of peace and liberation, we can say: with You, O Lord, everything is new. With you, everything begins again."

Watch the Mass and Urbi et Orbi message: www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcAV6c89SAE

Read the official English translation of Pope Francis' homily here: www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/homilies/2025/documents/20250420-omelia-pasqua.html