Christ my hope
Mary
Magdalene calls Jesus "my hope": he was the one who allowed her to be
reborn, who gave her a new future, a life of goodness and freedom from evil.
Every Christian relives the
experience of Mary Magdalene. It involves an encounter which changes our lives:
the encounter with a unique man who lets us experience all God's goodness and
truth, who frees us from evil not in a superficial and fleeting way, but sets
us free radically, heals us completely and restores our dignity. This is why
Mary Magdalene calls Jesus "my hope": he was the one who allowed her
to be reborn, who gave her a new future, a life of goodness and freedom from
evil. "Christ my hope" means that all my yearnings for goodness find
in him a real possibility of fulfilment: with him I can hope for a life that is
good, full, and eternal, for God himself has drawn near to us, even sharing our
humanity.
But Mary Magdalene, like the other
disciples, was to see Jesus rejected by the leaders of the people, arrested,
scourged, condemned to death, and crucified. It must have been unbearable to
see Goodness in person subjected to human malice, truth derided by falsehood,
mercy abused by vengeance. With Jesus' death, the hope of all those who had put
their trust in him seemed doomed. But that faith never completely failed:
especially in the heart of the Virgin Mary, Jesus' Mother, its flame burned
even in the dark of night. In this world, hope cannot avoid confronting the
harshness of evil. It is not thwarted by the wall of death alone, but even more
by the barbs of envy and pride, falsehood and violence. Jesus passed through
this mortal mesh in order to open a path to the kingdom of life. For a moment
Jesus seemed vanquished:darkness had invaded the land, the silence of God was
complete, hope a seemingly empty word.
And lo, on the dawn of the day after
the Sabbath, the tomb is found empty. Jesus then shows himself to Mary
Magdalene, to the other women, to his disciples. Faith is born anew, more alive
and stronger than ever, now invincible since it is based on a decisive
experience....
If Jesus is risen, then - and only
then - has something truly happened, something that changes the state of
humanity and the world. Then he, Jesus, is someone in whom we can put absolute
trust; we can put our trust not only in his message but in Jesus himself, for
the Risen One does not belong to the past, but is present today, alive. Christ
is hope and comfort in a particular way for those Christian communities
suffering most for their faith on account of discrimination and persecution.
And he is present as a force of hope through his Church, which is close to all
human situations of suffering and injustice.
POPE
EMERITUS BENEDICT XVI
Pope
Emeritus Benedict XVI reigned as pope from 2005 to 2013.