Homily

Mary Magdalene goes to the tomb when it is still dark. It is the darkness of this world. In fact, it is easy for darkness to enter the hearts of men and women and make them opaque, barely glimmering with the light of life. Violence wins in this world, so much so that it seems indispensable. The sword wins. What wins is the prudent neutrality of a Pilate who understands everything, who does not want to kill Jesus, and who in some ways would even have liked to save his life, but who does not choose to defend him. (Our good feelings are like this, when they do not take a side, the side of love, and when they are small and we do not make them grow, because we cannot accept the consequences and the cost!) What wins in this world are Judas’s thirty denarii, the desire to possess, and the idolatrous worship of things even if they make us sell the best of what we have and in the end only lead to desperation. What wins is the easy violence of the soldiers: brutal, free, and as easy as prejudice; what wins is the murderous violence of the crowd: anonymous, terrible, and faceless. In the end, even the disciples win, because they saved themselves. Jesus is a defeated man. In the darkness everyone has to save him or herself alone, as happened on the night of Jesus’ arrest, the hour of darkness. It is the same darkness that envelopes those who live in the night of war, which hangs like a threat, making it seem impossible for people to live together, wiping out the lives of entire countries, and feeding on the selfish interest of those who grow rich selling weapons. It is the same darkness that extinguishes the weak light of the children sick with AIDS in Africa, the darkness that quenches the smouldering wick of elderly people abandoned and hurled into the abyss of institutionalization from which it seems impossible ever to escape. It is also the darkness of our hearts, weary with resignation, that do not find forgiveness.
As soon as she reaches the tomb, Mary sees that the stone placed on its entrance - a stone as heavy as death - has been rolled away. She quickly runs to Peter and John and says, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb," and sadly adds, "and we do not know where they have laid him." Hope seems completely lost, swallowed up by nothingness. It is the complete victory of evil. It is the desperation of many women who cannot even cry over their sons’ bodies. She is the one who moves Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. They too immediately "run" to the empty tomb. Their running is an expression of the anxiety felt by every disciple, every community, and the entire world, all of whom need the Lord, a future, eternity, something that does not disappoint and never ends.
Everything changes with the resurrection. The heart begins to run and feelings rediscover their strength. We too can learn to run again! We can go out and meet people again. Life is not over. Hope has not passed! Regret, cynicism, and the desperate need to save oneself have not won. The happiness of Easter does not come without the pain of the cross; it is victory over that pain! Happiness is not a life without weeping, but tears wiped away by love. This is why Easter is also about hurrying: love is in a hurry to reach the beloved. The first one to reach the tomb is John, the child disciple, the disciple of love. But Peter goes in and then the other disciple. "He saw and believed." In fact, "as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead." This is often true of our lives: we have a hard time believing that life can rise again. It is easy for us to become resigned in front of evil and the logic of violence so clear and terrible in Jesus’ story. Easter comes to open the doors of our heart, which are closed in sadness, a sense of failure, and disillusionment.
When a bit of the darkness of evil is defeated, when the desperation of anguish finds a little light of love, when tears are wiped away and loneliness finds a companion, when a foreigner becomes a brother, when peace comes, when a weak person is consoled, when a dying person is accompanied by affection and entrusts him or herself into God’s hands, that is when the world rises again. "Death and life have clashed in a miraculous duel! The Leader of Life is dead, yet reigns alive. We know that Christ has truly risen from the dead. O Conqueror and King, have mercy on us." Let us believe more strongly in the force of love that has defeated evil! Do not be afraid! Christ is risen and will never die! He is our strength, our joy, and our future.