Seeking the signs of the Risen One in the world
In his Easter greetings, AsiaNews’s editor says we should not stop at situations of death we encounter, but seek in them the signs of life that Christ brings to history. This is Easter translated into our daily reality, and it is his irreducible hope that we want to relay to everyone every day.
Dear readers and friends of AsiaNews,
Perhaps you will be surprised to find this image of the body of Jesus taken down from the cross rather than a glorious Christ to accompany our Easter greetings. This choice stems from a personal experience.
Recently I had a chance to visit the Vatican Museums where I could appreciate such astonishing beauty and the power to communicate faith with the power of art – just think of the paintings in the Sistine Chapel.
But more than that, I am always struck by the Entombment of Christ by Caravaggio. This scene could describe with great dramatic force the rawness of death; yet, the artist, precisely in this painting, manages to tell us that death has not prevailed.
He does so with signs that could escape a distracted eye, for the reality of Jesus’s victory must not be imposed on man but must always leave room for his freedom. Here one can see the arm of Christ hanging, as if dead, but with the veins pulsating with blood and the hand with fingers as a sign of victory indicating the corner of the tombstone that seems to come out of the picture.
This detail is saying: Jesus is alive and shows the cornerstone as the place where he can be encountered forever. The painter teaches us to look at life, history, the world, not at any one situation of death we encounter, always looking for those signs of life that Christ places in history. He tells us that there is always a cornerstone on which to lean on in order to start again, that Jesus’s hand always shows us where to look to find the way to walk. This is Easter translated into our daily reality.
In recent weeks we saw some US banks suddenly collapse, quickly spooking the markets. The spectre of another financial and economic crisis is frightening at a time when the war in Ukraine shows no sign of stopping, while other forgotten conflicts wear down entire peoples and countries, not to mention the recent earthquake in Syria and Turkey that sowed death and destruction on a great scale.
We might be tempted to say that Christ died in vain, but the signs that Caravaggio immortalised in the Entombment remain topical even today because Jesus’s life and his victory over death are always available to us. It is up to us to live with a careful and trained eye to recognise the signs of his action and presence.
Presently, AsiaNews is reporting many stories marked by an irreducible hope that comes from Christ’s veins pulsating with blood.
With this in mind, I wish you dear friends, Happy Easter; please, continue to accompany us missionaries in our commitment to proclaim and discover the signs of the Risen One in the world.
.png)
01/10/2023 13:42
01/04/2016 18:51
23/03/2016 16:39
