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C. We adore you, Jesus Christ Risen, and we bless you.
T. For with your Easter you have given life to the world.
1L From the gospel according to John
Early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been taken away from the entrance. She went running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and told them, "They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him!" Then Peter and the other disciple went to the tomb. The two of the were running but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and saw the linen cloths, but he did not go in. Behind him came Simon Peter, and he went straight into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there and the cloth which had been around Jesus' head. It was not lying with the linen cloths but was rolled up by itself. Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in; he saw and believed. They still did not understand the scripture which said that he must rise from death (20,1-9).
2L. An empty tomb: death has been overcome
"The only immortal is death. Everything else is mortal." The supreme pre-Christian knowledge announces a concept that is at the basis of anguish. To say youth means a race for life: tension without end. A rush without limits. Death, checkmate. Game over. It is impossible to stay young. Others come forward. And here, Mary Magdalene, Peter and John, three youth, are the first to make the ascertainment: full check to checkmate. Joy bursts out only on this condition. It is possible to stay young. To rejoice with the same force with which the strongest seals were broken. You too, youth at the threshold of the millenium, you can, you must stay young. Whatever your age is, you're old…
if you close yourself in the shell of your own selfishness;
if you find yourself turned more towards the past than looking forward to the future;
if instead of enjoying and admiring the wellbeing of others you are blocked in your envy;
if you dampen your faith in God and his children, which have potential to recuperate;
if you freeze with criticism instead of stimulating with encouragement;
if you no longer have love for simple things, like children, flowers, stars;
if you no longer know how to laugh peacefully in your monotonous everyday life;
if you reduce God to your dimensions of a shy and calculating person;
if your first virtue is prudence and no longer love, which means daring to do the impossible.
Love wins everything.
If you believe in the victory of the Risen over the invincible ultimate death, you can do it. You will know how to rise. You will make others rise. Singing the hymn to life together.
S. Agostine wrote: "Youth, search for Christ if you want to stay young."
When vespera ubi Christus? The ancient fathers said: There is no dusk where Christ is. How can there be evening where there is Christ who is the sun, whose shadow is our sun?
T. Rejoice, Virgin Mother: Christ has risen again. Hallelujah!
C. Let us pray. Only you, Risen Jesus, bring us to the joy of life. Only you let us see a tomb emptied from the inside. Let us be convinced of our powerless strength before death when it is without you. Let us be fully trustful of the omnipotence of love, that wins over death.
T. Amen.
Song
(The journey is taken up again)
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