'Let us ask Jesus to re-enter our tombs,' Jerusalem Patriarch preaches at Easter Vigil (Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem)

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, OFM, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, celebrated the Easter Vigil Mass at the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre on Holy Saturday.

“Everything here today seems to speak of death and failure, as that of Jesus,” he preached. “Perhaps we too are like the women in the Gospel, full of fears and with our faces bowed to the ground (Lk 24:5) and therefore unable to see beyond, caught up in so much pain and violence. We lose ourselves in so many analyses, evaluations and projections of the dramatic situation we are experiencing.”

He continued:

As long as we are trapped in our fears, we will be like the women in the Gospel and seek Jesus where he is not, namely in our graves. So let us ask Jesus to re-enter our tombs and bring us into the light, to give us back the life we thirst for, to give us a new heart that is able to trust and give.