Urbi et Orbi message: the Risen Christ brings peace, solidarity and spiritual progress
Vatican City (AsiaNews) The Pope appeared at the window of his study, but only at the end of the solemn Easter mass held in St Peter's Square, when, for several minutes, he greeted the tens of thousands of faithful who had gathered.
Pilgrims had come to Rome hoping to see Pope John Paul II take part in the mass, read his Easter Urbi et Orbi (To the City and the World) message, and bless and speak to the crowd. Instead, he appeared only at the end of the ceremony, frail and in discomfort.
At the moment of the blessing, his voice could be barely heard. Still the faithful greeted him warmly, applauding and shouting slogans. Many wept at the sight of a Pontiff tired of the silence his doctors imposed on him following his recent tracheotomy.
Card Angelo Sodano celebrated Easter mass and read the Pope's message to the city and the world.
"Stay with us!" was the message's poignant refrain with which the Pope addressed the Risen Christ. In its poetic lyrics, the Holy Father called on Christ to "give hope and trust to all who are searching for the true meaning of their lives".
He called on the Lord to teach "peace for the countries of the Middle East and Africa, where so much blood continues to be shed" and to "give us the strength to show generous solidarity towards the multitudes who are even today suffering and dying from poverty and hunger".
John Paul II also called on Christ to stay among those living in the world of affluence and hyper-development and "grant that the material progress of peoples may never obscure the spiritual values which are the soul of their civilization".
Here is the entire text of the Urbi et Orbi message:
1. Mane nobiscum, Domine!
Stay with us, Lord! (cf. Lk 24:29)
With these words, the disciples on the road to Emmaus
invited the mysterious Wayfarer
to stay with them, as the sun was setting
on that first day of the week
when the incredible had occurred.
According to his promise, Christ had risen;
but they did not yet know this.
Nevertheless, the words spoken by the Wayfarer along the road
made their hearts burn within them.
So they said to him: "Stay with us".
Seated around the supper table,
they recognized him in the "breaking of bread"
- and suddenly he vanished.
There remained in front of them the broken bread,
There echoed in their hearts the gentle sound of his words.
2. Dear brothers and sisters,
the Word and the Bread of the Eucharist,
the mystery and the gift of Easter,
remain down the centuries as a constant memorial
of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ!
On this Easter Day,
together with all Christians throughout the world,
we too repeat those words:
Jesus, crucified and risen, stay with us!
Stay with us, faithful friend and sure support
for humanity on its journey through history!
Living Word of the Father,
give hope and trust to all who are searching
for the true meaning of their lives.
Bread of eternal life, nourish those who hunger
for truth, freedom, justice and peace.
3. Stay with us, Living Word of the Father,
and teach us words and deeds of peace:
peace for our world consecrated by your blood
and drenched in the blood of so many innocent victims:
peace for the countries of the Middle East and Africa,
where so much blood continues to be shed;
peace for all of humanity,
still threatened by fratricidal wars.
Stay with us, Bread of eternal life,
broken and distributed to those at table:
give also to us the strength to show generous solidarity
towards the multitudes who are even today
suffering and dying from poverty and hunger,
decimated by fatal epidemics
or devastated by immense natural disasters.
By the power of your Resurrection,
may they too become sharers in new life.
4. We, the men and women of the third millennium,
we too need you, Risen Lord!
Stay with us now, and until the end of time.
Grant that the material progress of peoples
may never obscure the spiritual values
which are the soul of their civilization.
Sustain us, we pray, on our journey.
In you do we believe, in you do we hope,
for you alone have the words of eternal life (cf. Jn 6:68).
Mane nobiscum, Domine! Alleluia!
Happy Easter to all!
From the Vatican, March 27, 2005, Easter of the Resurrection.
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