To His Beatitude Anastas
Archbishop of Tirana. Durres and AU Albania
Why do you seek the hung among the dead?
He is not here, but he has been raised /Lk 24:5)
“Christ is risen, Alleluia!” Whet joy these words bring to
the hearts of all believers, and especially to those who are
poor and downtrodden, those whose dignity and hopes are
crushed, those who live in fear and who thirst for justice! For
the resurrection of Chnst is not only a promise of future glory
which will one day banish our suffering and bring us into
eternal joy. It is also transformative of the present, of our
lives here and now and of the world in which we live. As those
whom Christ has redeemed, our lives today possess a glory, a
beauty and a dignity that transforms them and makes them
unalterably precious Our world, too. is recreated through the
all-powerful victory of Christ, so that Creation itself “waits
with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God” (Rom
How deeply then must this joyful feast touch our hearts,
empowering us and challenging us to transform the world in
the image of the risen Christ, to build up relationships that
are broken, to reach out to those who are excluded, and to
raise up those who are downtrodden The greater the pain
and suffering that we see. the greater must be our
determination to realise the effects of Christ’s victory over sin
and death, and to shine the glorious light of his resurrection
into the dark places of our world How are we to accomplish
this pressing task? We have a triumphant message to
proclaim, but it is in faithfulness to our calling, in simplicity
of purpose, and meekness of spirit that we must seek to do so.
With the assurance of my prayer for abundant blessings
of the nsen Chnst upon Your Beatitude, 1 warmly extend to
you a fraternal embrace in the Lord.
From the Vatican. 24 April 2013