Vatican City (AsiaNews) – “We cannot keep the great news to ourselves” of Christ’s resurrection, but “each Christian must spread the word through witness, using the same words as the disciples: “We have seen the Lord!”  That was Benedict XVI’s message today in his Wednesday audience, the first following Easter, held in St Peter’s square.  The pontiff who is spending these days of rest in Castel Gandolfo, came to Rome to meet the 50 thousand faithful gathered in the Vatican.  Among them were hundreds of young boys and girls currently preparing themselves for the profession of faith which precedes the sacrament of Confirmation.  Almost as if he wished to encourage these young people in their profession of faith, the Pope spoke of the certainties of faith, death and Christ’s resurrection, of our encounter with the Risen Christ, our need to “carry Our Lord in our hearts”, urging his listeners to become witnesses and missionaries for the faith.   

Benedict XVI began his catechesis with a long list of names given to the Risen Christ (“I am the remission of sins, I am forgiveness, I am the Lamb of liberation, your salvation, I show you the Father) taken from the writings of Melitos of the Sards (II century), which lead us to a deeper understanding of the mystery of Christ’s death and resurrection.  At times, he seemed to be in juxta position to the contemporary theological trends, which give only a symbolic value to the resurrection, refusing to accept that Jesus rising from the dead is “a body coming back to life from the dead”.   

The Pope clarified: Christ “did not return in the same conditions as before”, as was the case with Lazarus who was resuscitated; Christ “passed on to a new life” and quoting from St Bernard he further explained: “Christ crossed the frontiers towards a new condition, a far more glorious and definitive condition”. He recalled Christ’s changes attitude to Mary Magdalene and towards Thomas. To Mary Magdalene, the Lord says:  Do not touch me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father.   This is surprising, since to Thomas, he actually says:  “Put your finger here, place your hand in my side.”  But there is an important difference here.  Mary Magdalene wanted to embrace the Lord as if nothing had happened, as if he had returned to the same life that he had lived before.  No, he has passed through death to a new life, and the wounds of his Passion are the sign of that definitive victory over death.

In his overview of all of the Risen Lord’s apparitions according to the Gospels, Benedict XVI urged those present to do as the disciples do and “seek the Lord”.   Citing Peter and John’s “race” towards the empty tomb following Mary Magdalene’s words (John. 20, 1-8), he said that this is the image of a “legitimate competition between believers:  zeal in the search for Christ”.  “If we search for the Lord with simple and sincere souls we will find Him.  Actually it is He who comes towards us, who makes Himself recognisable to us, who calls us byname and grants us an even more intimate encounter with Him”.

He underscores today’s reading, on the apparition of Christ to the disciples on the road to Emmaus who “downcast because of their Master’s death were returning home (Luke 24, 13-35). Jesus himself drew near and walked with them, but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him. Then he interpreted to them what referred to him in all the Scriptures and they grew impassioned by His presence”.  They recognised Him then “with the breaking of bread”, “while he vanished from their sight”.

Commenting the Pope cites St Augustine “If we believe, we will know Him, no we will have Him” And quoting sentences of St Bernard of Chiaravalle, he added: “They had Christ at their table; we have Him in our soul; to have “Christ in our hearts is much more important than having Him in our homes”.  We said the Pope, “Carry Christ in our hearts”. 

At the end of the Audience Benedict XVI asked that through the Virgin Mary’s intercession Christians become capable of “ truly experiencing the joy of Easter”  and of “spreading that joy wherever we live and work”.