In this Easter season we contemplate Jesus alive, the core of the Christian message. Pope Francis highlighted the surprise of the women who wanted to anoint the body of the Lord. Our God is the God of surprises, and “there is always one surprise after the other.” And surprise is what moves our hearts. The first surprise announcement. The second: the rush, the women run. And so they run. To see. And Pedro and Juan run. The shepherds, on Christmas night – Francis recalled – run to see what the angels had announced. And the Samaritan woman runs. Those people run, stop what they are doing.

In this Easter time We contemplate Jesus alive, the core of the Christian message. Pope Francis highlighted the surprise of the women who wanted to anoint the body of the Lord. Our God is the God of surprises, and “there is always one surprise after the other.” And surprise is what moves our hearts. The first surprise announcement. The second: the rush, the women run. And so they run. To see. And Pedro and Juan run. The shepherds, on Christmas night – Francis recalled – run to see what the angels had announced. And the Samaritan woman runs. Those people run, stop what they are doing.

"Today it also happens in our towns, in our neighborhoods - added the Bishop of Rome in his spontaneously delivered homily - that people run to go see. This is how surprises happen, always, in a hurry." At the same time, he highlighted that in the Gospel there is one “who does not want to take risks” and “takes a little time”: Thomas. Whom the Lord waits with love. It is the one who said 'I will believe when I see'. But “the Lord is also patient with those who do not go so fast.” The announcement: surprise. The answer: hurry. And the third point – said the Pontiff – is a question: "And what about me? Do I have my heart open to God's surprises? Am I capable of going quickly, or always with that refrain, I'll see tomorrow, tomorrow?... To say, maybe, tomorrow...

What does surprise say to me? John and Peter ran to the tomb, the Pope recalled. The Gospel tells us about John that he believed and Peter also believed. His faith “was a faith a little mixed with remorse for having denied the Lord”… “The announcement came as a surprise,” Francis concluded by saying in his homily. And what about me today on this Easter of 2018?
January 26, 2022