The Resurrection of Christ, aging and taking risks

Lost in a presumptuous prometheanism that proclaims itself capable of curing all possible evils, the world is aging and becoming increasingly immobile. In front of difficulties and obstacles, mankind needs to regain the courage to trust and to take a risk. The Easter proclamation contains a strength capable of helping life to blossom even in those places dominated by death and repression: among Iraq’s refugees; China’s Christians; the poor of the Philippines.

Rome (AsiaNews) - A few weeks ago, talking to a young non-Christian, I was struck by his pessimism at just 22 years old. "There are no great ideals - he said - and when there are, everyone betrays them". When I asked if he was a nihilist, he replied: "No, but I would be happy with everyday ideals, that give some meaning to 24 hours”.

The stunted lives of the young is a common feature in Italy and Europe, but not only: the shadow of  unemployment, insecurity, the difficulty in starting a family, looms large everywhere. Yet in order to take the first few steps, to accept any job with joy, to get married, means taking a risk, it means taking a leap, not into insecurity …rather a leap of faith.

Our world - and here I speak mainly of Italy and the western world - is sinking into a kind of immobility that is characterized by a lack of ideals and impulses, into a kind of premature and listless old age (as Pope Francis said to young people of Mexico), which is an antechamber of death.

In this situation I can think of the Eastern icon of the Resurrection of the Lord, centering on Christ delivering Adam and Eve from Hades. Christ is depicted athletic and vibrant, moving, dancing on the gates of hell, which lie decimated at his feet. Adam and Eve are old and shrunken, with wrinkled faces, white-haired and disheveled, their arms and hands twisted from ailments or by paralysis. Those very hands are grasped by the shining Lord, and pulled up, up, close to the almond light of Christ, standing, carrying our ancestors, the human race, closer to their Savior.

This tired and aged world needs the resurrection of Christ. After losing itself in the presumptuous Prometheanism that proclaims itself capable of bringing justice, equality, prosperity, peace to the world, it is now harvesting the unhealthy and corrupt fruits of dictatorships, abysmal social inequalities, ambiguous "new rights", of wars great and small that cause bloodshed in many countries: all fuses for endless social conflicts that could lead to the annihilation of the world itself.

We need witnesses of the Resurrection. What a great consolation it is to visit the refugees from Mosul, who escaped the beheadings of the Islamic State, and see them rebuild their homes in Kurdistan without complaint and anger; or receive the testimony of Msgr. Shlemon Warduni on the aid that Christians have brought to the 1600 Muslim refugee families in Ramadi (Iraq); to hear the story of brotherhood between Christians and Muslims in Aleppo, catalyzed by the presence of priests and monks who refused to leave the city risking their own lives, to remain as a sign of hope. Or the testimonies of new Christians in China, who are preparing for baptism during the Great Easter Vigil, regardless of the increased control and persecution of religions by a fearful regime on the brink of collapse; or the Lenten collection for the poor of the Philippines to support those who are even poorer.

There is a force in Christian proclamation that breathes life even into those places dominated by death and this strength is a gift of the very presence of Christ among the faithful, which crosses every valley of tears to bring signs of hope.
For this to happen, the world needs to accept the risk of believing in Him. On the other hand, in its Promethean lot all it can hope to catch is putrefied fish.

The term "risk" is often associated with something "irrational". At a conference I participated in as a speaker, and in which I expressed the desire of Pope Francis to help migrants, to welcome them and integrate them, another speaker instead outlined all the difficulties this brings with it, suspicions, the economic costs, the pros and cons without reaching any conclusion. A world that is too "rational", a mathematical and closed rationality, leads to immobility, which is the result of a selfish prejudice.

If we do not want to die of sterile old age, if we want to give young people ideals for life - not just for one day – before everything else, we must first of all risk believing in Christ, helped by his witnesses.

Happy Easter.

Bernardo Cervellera

• Asia editorial Easter resurrection faith young nihilism philippines China persecution witness martyrdom