AMID A world troubled by crises, the message of Easter is a “revolutionary” force against despair, injustice and indifference, Cardinal Jose Advincula said in his Easter message during the Easter Vigil Mass at the Manila Cathedral on Holy Saturday, April 4.
Advincula urged Catholics to have a deeper understanding of the Lord’s resurrection, saying it is not a mere “passive” celebration and should not be romanticized.
“Let us not diminish the Resurrection of the Lord to a mere sentimentality and routine greetings. The Resurrection of Jesus is the most subversive and revolutionary message of Christianity. It is a call to resistance—to push back against the forces that ruthlessly seek to bury our joy and our future,” the cardinal said.
Echoing Pope Leo XIV’s call to end ongoing conflicts, Advincula denounced the normalization of genocide and the “globalization of indifference.”
He also pressed for accountability in governance, justice and urgent action to ease the suffering of Filipinos.
The Easter Vigil Mass was presided over by Advincula. The archbishop emeritus of Cotabato, Cardinal Orlando Quevedo, delivered the homily.
‘Grace and mission’
Fr. Gerard Francisco Timoner III, O.P., Master of the Order of Preachers, said Easter is both a grace received from God and a mission entrusted to be spread to the world.
“On that first Easter day, disciples became apostles; those who followed are now sent forth. So too for us, having received the peace of Christ, we are sent to bear it into the world, to preach, in word and in life, the Good News of the Resurrection,” Timoner said in his letter to the Order on April 5.
Reflecting on Pope Leo XIV’s words, Timoner said the faithful, as “peacemakers,” must always pray for the common good, amid the wars and divisions the world is experiencing.
“By praying, we disarm our ego and become capable of gratuitousness and sincerity. Let us persevere in earnest prayer for peace in our world, especially for our brothers and sisters who endure the trials of war and conflict,” he said.
Timoner said peace is a product of charity, and is for the good of others, reminding members of the order to have charity for their neighbors.
“When charity, God’s own love, takes root within us, it gives rise to true communion. It heals what is divided and restores what has been broken. It enables us to behold one another no longer as strangers or adversaries, but as brothers and sisters,” he concluded.
Easter Sunday commemorates the resurrection of Christ from the dead and ends the Paschal Triduum.
It marks the beginning of the Easter Season in the Church’s liturgical calendar, which ends on Pentecost Sunday, on May 24.
