• Ħadd il-Għid, 16 ta’ April 2017, fid-9:15 a.m., l-Arċisqof Charles J. Scicluna ċċelebra Quddiesa Stazzjonali tal-Għid il-Kbir tal-Mulej, fil-Konkatidral ta’ San Ġwann.

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    16 ta’ April 2017

    “Sa dakinhar kienu għadhom ma fehmux l-Iskrittura li tgħid li kellu jqum mill-imwiet” (Ġw 20, 9). Min kienu dawn? Kienu Pietru u Ġwanni. It-tnejn li huma flimkien ma ħu Ġwanni,  Ġakbu, kienu raw lill-Mulej trasfigurat fuq il-muntanja qaddisa, fuq il-muntanja Tabor. Dakinhar il-Mulej imponilhom sigriet: “titkellmux fuq dak li rajtu sakemm Bin il-Bniedem ikun qam mill-imwiet. Huma u neżlin mill-muntanja bdew jistaqsu lilhom nfushom: “imma din x’inhi li tqum mill-imwiet?” (Mk 9, 10).

    Ġwanni, li jidħol fil-qabar wara Pietru, jara “l-faxex tal-għażel imqiegħda hemm” u l-maktur li kien madwar rasu u mitwi u mqiegħed f’post għalih”, jara dan kollu “u jemmen” (Ġw 20, 5. 8). Dan kien id-dixxiplu li l-Mulej ħabb, id-dixxiplu li kellu l-esperjenza mill-qrib tal-imħabba ta’ Ġesù, id-dixxiplu li fl-aħħar ċena f’Ħamis ix-Xirka, serraħ rasu fuq sider il-Mulej Ġesù. Id-dixxiplu li kien midħla tal-qassis il-kbir, li daħal fil-bitħa fejn Ġesù kien arrestat, interrogat u umiljat.

    Daħħal ukoll lil Pietru, u Pietru ċaħad lill-Mulej. Imma dan kien dixxiplu li segwa lill-maħbub Ġesù sa taħt is-salib tiegħu, waqaf ma’ ommu ħdejn is-salib ta’ Ġesù u l-Mulej indirizzalu kelma: “hawn hi ommok” (Ġw 19, 27). Illum fl-ewwel jum tal-ġimgħa, Ġwanni, id-dixxiplu l-maħbub, jidħol wara Pietru fil-qabar, jara l-qabar vojt, jara l-faxex u l-maktur “u jemmen”, jemmen li l-kelma ta’ Ġesù seħħet, li Ġesù qam mill-imwiet kif kien qal.

    Imma din xi tfisser? X’ġara? Il-Papa Benedittu XVI fl-ewwel omelija bħala Papa Benedittu, fl-Għid tal-2006 poġġa din il-mistoqisja: imma xi tfisser li tqum mill-imwiet? U xi jfisser dan għalina? Il-Papa Benedittu – li llum nawgurawlu għeluq id-disgħin sena – f’omelija straordinarja li tibqa’ tissemma sejjaħ ir-reżurezzjoni tal-Mulej bħala punt fl-evoluzzjoni tal-umanità. L-ikbar bidla straordinarja li l-ġisem tagħna l-bnedmin jieħu s-sura ta’ ġisem trasfigurat u rxoxt, isir ġisem spiritwali u, peress li Ġesù huwa l-Iben ta’ Alla, l-ispirtu tiegħu huwa magħna, u fl-Ewkaristija jirritorna dan il-proċess: l-ispirtu tiegħu jbiddel il-ħobż u l-inbid fil-ġisem u d–demm tiegħu.

    Hija ħaġa sabiħa li nisimgħu l-kliem stess ta’ Benedittu f’dik il-lejla qaddisa tal-15 ta’ April 2006:

    “He has risen, he is not here”. When Jesus spoke for the first time to the disciples about the cross and the resurrection as they were coming down from the mount of the transfiguration, they questioned what rising form the dead meant. “At Easter we rejoice because Christ did not remain in the tomb, his body did not see corruption; he belongs to the world of the living not to the world of the dead; we rejoice because he is the Alpha and also the Omega as we proclaim in the rite of the Paschal Candle; he lives not only yesterday, but today and for eternity (cf Heb 13, 8)”.

    I am quoting from the homily given by the Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI on Holy Saturday the 15th April 2006. We pray for the Pope Emeritus on his 90th birthday today. And I quote: “But somehow the resurrection is situated so far beyond our horizon, so far outside all our experience that, returning to ourselves, we find ouselves continuing the argument of the disciples: Of what exactly does this ‘rising’ consist? What does it mean for the whole world and the whole of history?”

    “The point is that Christ’s Resurrection is something more” than a corpse of an individual returning to life, “something different. If we may borrow the language of the theory of evolution, it is the greatest ‘mutation’, absolutely the most crucial leap into a totally new dimension that there has ever been in the long history of life and its development: a leap into a completely new order which does concern us and concerns the whole of history.”

    “Out of love Jesus could allow himself to be killed, but precisely by doing so, he broke the definitiveness of death, because in him the definitiveness of life was present. He was one single reality with indestructible life” because he was the Son of man, the Son of God made man, in such a way that it burst forth anew through death […]His death was an act of love. At the Last Supper he anticipated death and transformed it into self-giving. His existential communion with God was concretely an existential communion with God’s love and this love is the real power against death, it is stronger than death. The resurrection”, says Benedict, “was like an explosion of light, an explosion of love which dissolved the hitherto indissoluble compenetration of ‘dying and becoming’. It ushered in a new dimension of being, a new dimension of life, in which, in a transformed way, matter too was integrated and to which a new world emerges”.

    And how do we share in the resurrection of Jesus? How do we share in his great leap in evolution? Through Baptism, through faith because Baptism and Faith is being immersed in Jesus, living life immersed in the crucified and risen Lord. And that is why with St Paul in Romans we say: “whether we live or we die, we belong to the Lord” (Rom 14, 8) and this is the way we share in this great joy. Easter is not only an event in history which we are invited to believe in;, it is an event happening now in each and every one of us through our love of Jesus and our faith in  him.

    Nixtieq nawgura lil kulħadd l-Għid ħieni, l-Għid li jagħtina l-paċi tassew, l-Għid li jgħinna nbiddlu ħajjitna u ngħixu l-preżenza ta’ Ġesù fil-qalb tagħna, dik il-preżenza li għalina hija l-għatba tal-ħajja ta’ dejjem u li tibda minn issa, mil-lum. 

    ✠ Charles J. Scicluna     
         Archbishop of Malta

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