Dear Brothers,
Greetings to all, wherever you are in the world and with whatever commitment you are engaged or ministry you are doing. We are blessed every year with the opportunity to retrace our way through the stages of God’s care for his people, with all the concern the Lord has shown, with all the faithfulness He has demonstrated, with all the wonders that He has worked toward his people. Every year we walk the same path and yet every year it is new. Every year if we just stop and reflect a little bit on how much God has done for his people we are amazed, amazed! It is just beautiful how the Lord cares for man.
The greatest story we know of this care of the Lord, the culmination of this story of salvation is the incarnation, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, which we celebrate during these days particularly his passion and resurrection, the core mystery of Christian life. If we, then, consider history not only the long history of God’s intervention with his people but also the history of God’s intervention with each one of us we will see similarities. We read and reflect every day on how God treats us, how God has woven a history with each one of us, and we cannot even remember all the benefits the Lord performs; he performs them continuously in our lives. After all, what we are, what we live, what we proclaim is nothing but the Lord’s story of faithfulness with each one of us.
This story did not stop with the Lord’s resurrection; it continues in our lives today God with us.
In recent months, I have had the chance to visit some places where we are present: Belarus, Romania, Albania, I have been in Lourdes to meet the St. Lawrence fraternity there, also the new one we have started in Holland, and I have been able to visit some formation houses in southern Italy. Everywhere I went, I came out with a great sense of inner joy, inner joy upon seeing that the Lord is guiding the story of each of us, throughout our Order, in very different situations but with signs of great fidelity on His part, as expressed through the commitment of the brothers.
We are living the jubilee year and also the 800th anniversary of the Canticle of the Creatures. Francis expresses his ability to see the hand of the Lord in everything that happens, in all that is around him. This Lord is continuing to manifest himself in our history as a living God, as a God who accompanies the life story of each one of us, as a God who always gives hope, always. There are beautiful signs of hope in our Order as well, and he continues to give them.
I wish for you all to have eyes to see God’s work today among us, wherever we are, even in the most difficult situations that we experience. I reiterate here the hope and concern we have for our brothers and sisters who live in difficult areas, for the social and political contexts in which they are operating. I extend once again my best wishes toward all of them and my admiration not only on my part as General Minister but on the part of the entire Order for the work they are doing. Continue with that same strength and with God’s help! But the Lord is also expressing himself in so many other ways.
I pray, then, for all to have eyes to see how God is walking with us today. If we can do this, we will find inexhaustible energy, we will find hope, and it will be a way to celebrate Easter as a true resurrection for each one of us.
My warmest regards, brothers, from the heart: Happy Easter!