LENT 2022

Following in BP's footsteps

MARCH

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on the way through

Lent 2022

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Dearest friends in Scouting and Guiding, this year we want to offer you a Lenten journey that looks at the whole Lent time, a forty-day journey to prepare you for the most important moment of our Christianity. Every day you will find a BP's quote concerning several aspects of scouting, guiding and christianity. We sincerely hope you will carefully reflect on it, considering BP's intentions and love for each of us. Once per week, you will also find a challange which might help you to better prepare yourself to live the coming Easter. We will also meet our Pope Francis and his words on Lent! Thanks in advance for the time you will dedicate to this Calendar and we wish you a holy path to Easter! Yours in Christ and Scouting and Guding, ICCG-E Regional Team ICCS-EM Regional Committee

"Be a player in God's team"

“We aim for the practice of Christianity in everyday life and dealing, not merely the profession of its theology on Sundays.” How do you live your Christianity in daily life?

The further promise of the Scout or Guide is to carry out the Scout Law which, in effect, emphasises and indicates a line of conduct towards themselves and towards their neighbour, much on the lines of the Sermon on the Mount Which is the article of the Scout and Guide law closer to your sense of life?

“I honestly believe that any Scout or Guide who carries out the whole Scout law in his daily work and play, not only while he is a boy but afterwards also, when he is a man or a woman, is bound to make a success of his life”

“In the Promise I purposely put the “duty to God” as a concrete form of active work the a boy (and a girl) can understand” Are you active in the service rather than doing things just because they ask you to? What does "active" mean in your opinion?

“Two keys of happiness:

Do not take things too seriously, but make the best of what you have got and look on life as a game and the world a playground;
Let your actions and thoughts be directed by Love”

What primarily directs your thoughts and actions?

“ The only true success is happiness” Do you think you are building your success?

“ Happiness is within the reah of everyone, rich or poor. Yet comparatively few people are happy” Look around today and find out how many smiling people you find. If you don't find any, be the one to smile first!

“ The royal road to happiness is through brotherhood and service, plus appreciation of nature, coupled with a sens of humour” What's your dose of humor in your life?

THE FATHER'S HOUSE THE GOSPEL “Since the Passover of the Jews was near, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. He found in the temple area those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves, 13 as well as the money-changers seated there. He made a whip out of cords and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and oxen, and spilled the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables, and to those who sold doves he said, "Take these out of here, and stop making my Father's house a marketplace!" (John 2, 13-16) to Meditate In the house, everything has its place and each room has its function. If things are left in the wrong place, then there is a mess. The Temple of Jerusalem is the place of God's presence and Jesus calls it "my Father's house". But the Jerusalem Temple is full of things that should be outside. Instead of a Temple, it looks like a market! Jesus loves that place and for this he drives out all the merchants: not because he cares a lot about order in himself, but because he wants to give the right meaning to things, and he wants God's place not to be occupied by anything else. Is there something I care about and that I like that is in his place? What is God's place in my family and home? CHALLENGE During this week let us stop with our family to reflect on the occasions in which we have given life to moments of welcome or sharing of a less fortunate family than ours. Let's try to imagine how our family could concretely become "FATHER'S HOUSE", where people can experience the beauty of being together, welcoming someone in difficulty, even just for a coffee or a "safe" lunch if possible ... Home is a word that recalls warmth, affection, familiarity even if often the desire to run away from home also arises. What makes you feel at home in your home? What do you feel as a stranger instead? to Pray Lord, come and live in my house. Guide me on my path. Correct my course when I get lost in the storms. Be the road, the compass and the strong wind on the sails. Be the direction and the destination. Be the goldsmith and I be the gold that lets itself be modeled. “Lord, GIVE ME EVERYTHING THAT BRINGS ME TO YOU and take away from me what distances me from you”. This week repeat this prayer, as if it were the refrain of your breath: "Lord, give me all that brings me to You and take away from me what distances me from You".

“Do your good turn not only to your friends but to strangers and even to your enemies” When someone has offended you, have you ever tried to respond with a courtesy? Why on earth would you do such an absurd thing?

“Your duty is to to do a Good Turn to somebody everyday […] even though it may be irksome or dangerous and though nobody is there to see you do it.” What are the advantages of doing someone good if no one sees you?

"Goodwill is God’s will" What if the times you have the urge to do something good it was God's will to guide you?

“The smile and the the good Turn are our speciality. The want of these in the average citizen is at the root of much of our social trouble today.”

“The beauty about Good Turns: they may seem small when you do them but you can never see where they are going to end” Have you ever been surprised by the effect of your action, seeing a positive consequence that you never imagined?

“The three points of the Scout Badge and the Three fingers of the scout Sign remind a Scout of the Three parts of the Scout Promise” What does thumb over mile mean of the Scout Sign?

“All promises are important things and should never be broken, but when you promise on your honour to do a thing you would rather die than break such a promise.” Think at the promise you might have done recently to someone… Today is a good day to keep and accomplish it!

“I heve been asked to describe more fully what was in my mind as regards religion when I instituted Scouting and Guiding. I was asked: “Where religion come in?”. Well, my replay is:”It does not come in at all. It is already there.It is the foundamental factor underlying Scouting and Guiding”. What do you think is the fundamental factor of your being a scout and guide?

THE SOLITUDE OF THE DESERT THE GOSPEL “At once the Spirit drove him out into the desert,and he remained in the desert for forty days, tempted by Satan. He was among wild beasts, and the angels ministered to him. After John had been arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God: "This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel." (Mark 1: 12-15) to Meditate Temptation is the moment when the thought of doing a bad thing makes its way inside us, when we feel the desire to do or say something bad. It is important to know how to recognize some thoughts and desires as temptations, that is, thoughts and desires that lead us to harm, to suffer and to make others suffer. One of the temptations experienced in the family is that of the "desert", that is, to isolate oneself, not to speak, to close oneself in one's own world, in one's own thoughts, without sharing with others. To resist temptation, we ask God not to abandon us. Do I ever shut myself up in my world? What helps me get out of the desert? CHALLENGE Try looking in your building or among your neighbors for a person who is going through a moment of DESERT. Approach him/her and let her tell you what she is feeling. Try being in the desert with her! Did you know, for example, that among young people there is a widespread phenomenon whereby many take refuge in extreme physical isolation, staying in their room and refusing contact with their families and the outside world? In the world of adolescents, it is good to consider the effects of isolation due to the expectations and pressures of adults. What are the main causes of the isolation of some of your peers? Have you ever confronted yourself with the hikikomori phenomenon? to Pray Give me, Lord, to love without measure. Grant that I know how to listen to your Word and to the voice and to whoever you give me to meet, so that I can always go out of my world, OUTSIDE THAT FENCE where I have taken refuge for too long for fear of loving. Let me want nothing more than to give myself to everyone by overcoming pride, when I don't know how to apologize, resentment, when I don't know how to say "I forgive you", selfishness when my hands are ready only to receive. Lord, blow your spirit of life into my heart and give me to love without measure. This week repeat this prayer, as if it were the refrain of your breath: «Lord, teach me to love like you; give me to love without measure ».

“We are given arms and legs and brain and ambitions with which to be active; and it is the active that counts more than the passive in gaining the happiness” Do you remember the taste of a fruit plucked from the tree on which you laboriously climbed?

“ Many people think that ”pleasure” is the same think as “happiness”. That’s where they take the wrong turning.”” What is happiness in your opinion?

“Something good ought to be done each day of your life” What would a day be like when you couldn't make a gesture of courtesy? Would it be the same as all the others?

THE LOVE OF GOD THE GOSPEL “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.» (John 3, 16-18) to Meditate When we love someone we want to be with him and help him in all circumstances. If he needs something, we do everything for him. If he is in trouble or in danger, we want to save him and prevent him from suffering. If he made a mistake and hurt us, let's try to forgive him to get back together. Jesus is God's love for us. In him there is all this: he is the presence of God with us, he is help, he is salvation, he is forgiveness. He is very beautiful when we look at him and feel loved. In our family, what is the sign of love for me? Have I felt the joy of being forgiven? CHALLENGE When one is wrong with someone, or is wronged, the first step is the most difficult. It can be done on two tracks: praying for the good of the person, taking the initiative for clarification, lowering the pointing finger. This could be "first step week" for each member of our family. We can do it in different ways, by approaching people with whom we are not in peace and harmony, or by "forgiving", even partially, a material debt to someone: the tenant of the house, those to whom we have loaned something, etc. Love is the fundamental experience of our human and Christian life. We often find it difficult to express one's affection. Do you believe that forgiveness is possible especially in your family? Have you ever experienced it during this period? to Pray Grant me, O Christ, a constant desire to imitate you. Enlighten my spirit, because, by contemplating your examples, you learn to live AS YOU LIVED. Arrange for me to serve you, with pure and integral love, without waiting for success or happiness in return. This week repeat this prayer, as if it were the refrain of your breath: "Lord, let me serve you and learn to live as you have lived".

“Look wide, beyond your immediate surroundings and limits, and you see things in their right proportion. Look above the level of things around you and see a higher aim and possibility to your work.” When did you happen to have a beautiful dream and then try to really live a similar experience? What is the limit of what can we dream of living?

“Leave this world a little better than you found it.” This sentence, of course, could not be missing ... What are you doing to improve yourself and the environment in which you live?

“If you make listening and observation your occupation you will gain much more than you can by talk.” Why do we have two eyes and two ears instead of just one mouth, in your opinion?

“No one can pass through life, any more than he can pass through a bit of country, without leaving tracks behind, and those tracks may often be helpful to those coming after him in finding their way.” We all seek our way to the Father. Jesus told us that he himself is the way! Did you notice that He holds out His hand to you right now?

THE WHEAT BEARS FRUIT THE GOSPEL “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be. The Father will honor whoever serves me. "I am troubled now. Yet what should I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? But it was for this purpose that I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name." Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it and will glorify it again." (John 12, 24-28) to Meditate When a wheat seed that is underground sprouts, the shell around it breaks and the seedling comes out, which then grows and becomes an ear. In a certain sense, the seed dies, because when there is a seedling the seed is no longer there, it has transformed. If, on the other hand, the shell of the seed did not break, nothing would be born. There would be no ear of corn, and then there would be no flour or bread. Jesus uses this image to speak of his own death on the cross: "I am like the seed, I die to give birth to something else; I'm afraid of dying, but I have more love than fear, and love pushes me to go all the way ". Did I see someone who did something difficult or tiring for me? Have I ever done like the grain of wheat, sacrificing myself for someone else? CHALLENGE During this week we try, as a family, to open ourselves generously to the difficulties of those who, due to the pandemic, find it hard to live everyday life. Let's try to kill a little of our selfishness and our self-love, so that a greater desire to share arises in us and through us. We are extending our commitment for the whole week to collect non-perishable foodstuffs to be allocated to the parish for families in difficulty. The theme of sacrifice is certainly difficult, yet there is a certain heroic sense of self-giving in many of them. For whom would you "give your life"? to Pray Lord, make me a good friend of everyone, even of those who seek light far from you. Help me, so that I do not pass by anyone with an indifferent face, with a closed heart, with a hurried step. Remind me that there is no greater love than one who GIVES LIFE FOR FRIENDS, and that there is nothing more satisfying in the world than loving and letting oneself be loved. Lord, may I serve you, may I love you, may I listen to you IN EVERY BROTHER you make me meet. This week repeat this prayer, as if it were the refrain of your breath: "Lord, make me love and let me love and that your life bear fruit in me".

This week , let’s read and meditate the last message of POPE FRANCIS for Lent Dear Brothers and Sisters, Jesus revealed to his disciples the deepest meaning of his mission when he told them of his passion, death and resurrection, in fulfilment of the Father’s will. He then called the disciples to share in this mission for the salvation of the world. In our Lenten journey towards Easter, let us remember the One who “humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross” (Phil 2:8). During this season of conversion, let us renew our faith, draw from the “living water” of hope, and receive with open hearts the love of God, who makes us brothers and sisters in Christ. At the Easter vigil, we will renew our baptismal promises and experience rebirth as new men and women by the working of the Holy Spirit. This Lenten journey, like the entire pilgrimage of the Christian life, is even now illumined by the light of the resurrection, which inspires the thoughts, attitudes and decisions of the followers of Christ. Fasting, prayer and almsgiving, as preached by Jesus (cf. Mt 6:1-18), enable and express our conversion. The path of poverty and self-denial (fasting), concern and loving care for the poor (almsgiving), and childlike dialogue with the Father (prayer) make it possible for us to live lives of sincere faith, living hope and effective charity. […]

This week , let’s read and meditate the last message of POPE FRANCIS for Lent Faith calls us to accept the truth and testify to it before God and all our brothers and sisters. In this Lenten season, accepting and living the truth revealed in Christ means, first of all, opening our hearts to God’s word, which the Church passes on from generation to generation. This truth is not an abstract concept reserved for a chosen intelligent few. Instead, it is a message that all of us can receive and understand thanks to the wisdom of a heart open to the grandeur of God, who loves us even before we are aware of it. Christ himself is this truth. By taking on our humanity, even to its very limits, he has made himself the way – demanding, yet open to all – that leads to the fullness of life. Fasting, experienced as a form of self-denial, helps those who undertake it in simplicity of heart to rediscover God’s gift and to recognize that, created in his image and likeness, we find our fulfilment in him. In embracing the experience of poverty, those who fast make themselves poor with the poor and accumulate the treasure of a love both received and shared. In this way, fasting helps us to love God and our neighbour, inasmuch as love, as Saint Thomas Aquinas teaches, is a movement outwards that focuses our attention on others and considers them as one with ourselves (cf. Fratelli Tutti, 93). Lent is a time for believing, for welcoming God into our lives and allowing him to “make his dwelling” among us (cf. Jn 14:23). Fasting involves being freed from all that weighs us down – like consumerism or an excess of information, whether true or false – in order to open the doors of our hearts to the One who comes to us, poor in all things, yet “full of grace and truth” (Jn 1:14): the Son of God our Saviour. […]

This week , let’s read and meditate the last message of POPE FRANCIS for Lent In Lent, may we be increasingly concerned with “speaking words of comfort, strength, consolation and encouragement, and not words that demean, sadden, anger or show scorn” (Fratelli Tutti, 223). In order to give hope to others, it is sometimes enough simply to be kind, to be “willing to set everything else aside in order to show interest, to give the gift of a smile, to speak a word of encouragement, to listen amid general indifference” (ibid., 224). Through recollection and silent prayer, hope is given to us as inspiration and interior light, illuminating the challenges and choices we face in our mission. Hence the need to pray (cf. Mt 6:6) and, in secret, to encounter the Father of tender love. To experience Lent in hope entails growing in the realization that, in Jesus Christ, we are witnesses of new times, in which God is “making all things new” (cf. Rev 21:1-6). It means receiving the hope of Christ, who gave his life on the cross and was raised by God on the third day, and always being “prepared to make a defense to anyone who calls [us] to account for the hope that is in [us]” (1 Pet 3:15). […]

This week , let’s read and meditate the last message of POPE FRANCIS for Lent Love, following in the footsteps of Christ, in concern and compassion for all, is the highest expression of our faith and hope. Love rejoices in seeing others grow. Hence it suffers when others are anguished, lonely, sick, homeless, despised or in need. Love is a leap of the heart; it brings us out of ourselves and creates bonds of sharing and communion. “‘Social love’ makes it possible to advance towards a civilization of love, to which all of us can feel called. With its impulse to universality, love is capable of building a new world. No mere sentiment, it is the best means of discovering effective paths of development for everyone” (Fratelli Tutti, 183). Love is a gift that gives meaning to our lives. It enables us to view those in need as members of our own family, as friends, brothers or sisters. A small amount, if given with love, never ends, but becomes a source of life and happiness. Such was the case with the jar of meal and jug of oil of the widow of Zarephath, who offered a cake of bread to the prophet Elijah (cf. 1 Kings 17:7-16); it was also the case with the loaves blessed, broken and given by Jesus to the disciples to distribute to the crowd (cf. Mk 6:30-44). Such is the case too with our almsgiving, whether small or large, when offered with joy and simplicity. […]

This week , let’s read and meditate the last message of POPE FRANCIS for Lent Hope as “living water” enabling us to continue our journey. The Samaritan woman at the well, whom Jesus asks for a drink, does not understand what he means when he says that he can offer her “living water” (Jn 4:10). Naturally, she thinks that he is referring to material water, but Jesus is speaking of the Holy Spirit whom he will give in abundance through the paschal mystery, bestowing a hope that does not disappoint. Jesus had already spoken of this hope when, in telling of his passion and death, he said that he would “be raised on the third day” (Mt 20:19). Jesus was speaking of the future opened up by the Father’s mercy. Hoping with him and because of him means believing that history does not end with our mistakes, our violence and injustice, or the sin that crucifies Love. It means receiving from his open heart the Father’s forgiveness. In these times of trouble, when everything seems fragile and uncertain, it may appear challenging to speak of hope. Yet Lent is precisely the season of hope, when we turn back to God who patiently continues to care for his creation which we have often mistreated (cf. Laudato Si’, 32-33; 43-44). Saint Paul urges us to place our hope in reconciliation: “Be reconciled to God” (2 Cor 5:20). By receiving forgiveness in the sacrament that lies at the heart of our process of conversion, we in turn can spread forgiveness to others. Having received forgiveness ourselves, we can offer it through our willingness to enter into attentive dialogue with others and to give comfort to those experiencing sorrow and pain. God’s forgiveness, offered also through our words and actions, enables us to experience an Easter of fraternity. […]

I will have the poor people to be as rich as we are, and they only ought by rigths to be as happy as we are, and all who go across the crossing shall give the poor crossing sweeper some money and you ought to thank God for what he has given us and he made the poor people to be poor and the rich people to be rich and I can tell you how to be good. Now I will tell you. You must pray to God whenever you can but you cannot be good with only praying but you must try very hard to be good. Today, ask the Father to help you to be “good” according to His meaning of “good”

A HIDDEN LIGHT THE GOSPEL “After six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no fuller on earth could bleach them. Then Elijah appeared to them along with Moses, and they were conversing with Jesus. Then Peter said to Jesus in reply, "Rabbi, it is good that we are here! Let us make three tents: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." He hardly knew what to say, they were so terrified. Then a cloud came, casting a shadow over them; 4 then from the cloud came a voice, "This is my beloved Son. Listen to him." (Mark 9: 2-7) to Meditate In each person there is a light, a particular beauty, because we are children of God, unique and unrepeatable. Sometimes the light can be seen clearly, sometimes it is hidden, as if we were putting a lighted lamp under a blanket. But if we lift the blanket for a moment, we see the hidden light. When Jesus takes his disciples to the mountain, something like this happens: for a moment he shows the light that he has within him, the light of God. What is the beauty of our family? What are the moments in which it is hidden? CHALLENGE Have you ever thought about the possibility of finding a hidden light in situations where there seems to be no hope? Some people who have made mistakes, even very serious ones, and who are now paying for their mistakes in prisons, are often considered "non-existent", almost walled up alive. Destined to serve the crime sometimes committed without anyone taking care of them. There are also mothers with their children who live inside the prison. It is difficult in these situations to see that "hidden light" that they too, certainly, guard. As a sign of closeness, we can bring to the parish new underwear for men and women, to be destined for the prisoners. The world of the family and the comparison with adults can be the strength but also the weakness of some relationships with adolescents. to Pray Grant, O Lord, that I can SEE ME AS YOU SEE ME, to overcome the temptation to withdraw into myself and want to be different from what you want from me; give me the grace to love me as you created me and recognize that I am your son, "a prodigy" made by your hands. This week repeat this prayer, as if it were the refrain of your breath: "Lord, may I see myself as you see me: a prodigy, done by your hands".

This week , let’s read and meditate the last message of POPE FRANCIS for Lent To experience Lent with love means caring for those who suffer or feel abandoned and fearful because of the Covid-19 pandemic. In these days of deep uncertainty about the future, let us keep in mind the Lord’s word to his Servant, “Fear not, for I have redeemed you” (Is 43:1). In our charity, may we speak words of reassurance and help others to realize that God loves them as sons and daughters. “Only a gaze transformed by charity can enable the dignity of others to be recognized and, as a consequence, the poor to be acknowledged and valued in their dignity, respected in their identity and culture, and thus truly integrated into society” (Fratelli Tutti, 187). Dear brothers and sisters, every moment of our lives is a time for believing, hoping and loving. The call to experience Lent as a journey of conversion, prayer and sharing of our goods, helps us – as communities and as individuals – to revive the faith that comes from the living Christ, the hope inspired by the breath of the Holy Spirit and the love flowing from the merciful heart of the Father. […]

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EASTER VIGIL IN THE HOLY NIGHT OF EASTER HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS 3 April 2021 The women thought they would find a body to anoint; instead they found an empty tomb. They went to mourn the dead; instead they heard a proclamation of life. For this reason, the Gospel tells us, the women “were seized with trembling and amazement” (Mk 16:8); they were filled with trembling, fear and amazement. Amazement. A fear mingled with joy that took their hearts by surprise when they saw the great stone before the tomb rolled away and inside a young man in a white robe. Wonder at hearing the words: “Do not be afraid! You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen” (v. 6). And a message: “He is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him” (v. 7). May we too accept this message, the message of Easter. Let us go to Galilee, where the Risen Lord has gone ahead of us. Yet what does it mean “to go to Galilee”? To go to Galilee means, first, to begin anew. For the disciples it meant going back to the place where the Lord first sought them out and called them to follow him. The place of their first encounter and the place of their first love. From that moment on, leaving their nets behind, they followed Jesus, listening to his preaching and witnessing the miracles he performed. Yet, though they were always with him, they did not fully understand him. Frequently they misunderstood his words and in the face of the cross they abandoned him and fled. Even so, the Risen Lord once more appears as the one who goes ahead of them to Galilee. He precedes them. He stands before them and constantly calls them to follow him. He says to them: “Let us start over from where we began. Let us begin anew. I want you to be with me again, in spite of everything”. In this Galilee, we learn to be amazed by the Lord’s infinite love, which opens new trails along the path of our defeats.This is how the Lord is: he creates new paths on the road of our defeats. This is how he is; and he invites us to Galilee to do this. This is the first Easter message that I would offer you: it is always possible to begin anew, because there is always a new life that God can awaken in us in spite of all our failures. From the rubble of our hearts – and each one of us knows the rubble of our hearts – God can create a work of art; from the ruined remnants of our humanity, God can prepare a new history. He never ceases to go ahead of us: in the cross of suffering, desolation and death, and in the glory of a life that rises again, a history that changes, a hope that is reborn. In these dark months of the pandemic, let us listen to the Risen Lord as he invites us to begin anew and never lose hope. Going to Galilee also means setting out on new paths. It means walking away from the tomb. The women were looking for Jesus in the tomb; they went to recall what they had experienced with him, which was now gone forever. They went to indulge in their grief. There is a kind of faith that can become the memory of something once beautiful, now simply to be recalled. Many people – including us – experience such a “faith of memories”, as if Jesus were someone from the past, an old friend from their youth who is now far distant, an event that took place long ago, when they attended catechism as a child. A faith made up of habits, things from the past, lovely childhood memories, but no longer a faith that moves me, or challenges me. Going to Galilee, on the other hand, means realizing that faith, if it is to be alive, must get back on the road. It must daily renew the first steps of the journey, the amazement of the first encounter. And it must continue to trust, not thinking it already knows everything, but embracing the humility of those who let themselves be surprised by God’s ways. We are usually afraid of God’s surprises; we are always worried that God will surprise us. And today the Lord invites us to let ourselves be surprised. Let us go to Galilee, then, to discover that God cannot be filed away among our childhood memories, but is alive and filled with surprises. Risen from the dead, Jesus never ceases to amaze us. This, then, is the second message of Easter: faith is not an album of past memories; Jesus is not outdated. He is alive here and now. He walks beside you each day, in every situation you are experiencing, in every trial you have to endure, in your deepest hopes and dreams. He opens new doors when you least expect it, he urges you not to indulge in nostalgia for the past or cynicism about the present. Even if you feel that all is lost, please, let yourself be open to amazement at the newness Jesus brings: he will surely surprise you. Going to Galilee also means going to the peripheries. Galilee was an outpost: the people living in that diverse and disparate region were those farthest from the ritual purity of Jerusalem. Yet that is where Jesus began his mission. There he brought his message to those struggling to live from day to day, the excluded, the vulnerable and the poor. There he brought the face and presence of God, who tirelessly seeks out those who are discouraged or lost, who goes to the very peripheries of existence, since in his eyes no one is least, no one is excluded. The Risen Lord is asking his disciples to go there even now: he asks us to go to Galilee, to the real “Galilee” of daily life, the streets we travel every day, the corners of our cities. There the Lord goes ahead of us and makes himself present in the lives of those around us, those who share in our day, our home, our work, our difficulties and hopes. In Galilee we learn that we can find the Risen One in the faces of our brothers and sisters, in the enthusiasm of those who dream and the resignation of those who are discouraged, in the smiles of those who rejoice and the tears of those who suffer, and above all in the poor and those on the fringes. We will be amazed how the greatness of God is revealed in littleness, how his beauty shines forth in the poor and simple. And this is the third message of Easter: Jesus, the Risen Lord, loves us without limits and is there at every moment of our lives. Having made himself present in the heart of our world, he invites us to overcome barriers, banish prejudices and draw near to those around us every day in order to rediscover the grace of everyday life. Let us recognize him here in our Galilees, in everyday life. With him, life will change. For beyond all defeats, evil and violence, beyond all suffering and death, the Risen One lives and guides history. Dear sister, dear brother: if on this night you are experiencing an hour of darkness, a day that has not yet dawned, a light dimmed or a dream shattered, go, open your heart with amazement to the message of Easter: “Do not be afraid, he has risen! He awaits you in Galilee”. Your expectations will not remain unfulfilled, your tears will be dried, your fears will be replaced by hope. For the Lord always goes ahead of you, he always walks before you. And, with him, life always begins anew.

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