And their eyes were opened!

To all the Brothers and Co-workers, Members of the Hospitaller Family of St John of God

I send my Easter greetings to all the members of the Family of St John of God and to all the guests in our Order's Centres and facilities, and to their loved ones, praying that Our Risen Lord will fill our world with light and life.

In today's world, Light and Resurrection are two words which hold out the prospect of Hope. We are being deluged by news that speak of suffering, death, the failure to respect human dignity, violence, war and many other bleak events and experiences. But this was also the experience of Jesus of Nazareth. The dawn of His public life was full of hope, and He was very well received by the people who listened to Him and saw Him, because He spoke with authority, compellingly, because His actions, attitudes, behaviour and deeds matched His words which spoke of love, mercy, peace, freedom, health and salvation. Gradually, however, He drew criticism from those whom He exposed for their hypocrisy and because they saw their position of religious, economic and political power being put in jeopardy. Essentially, Jesus upset them, and that light which filled the people with hope had to be snuffed out, to prevent it from bothering them, and to ensure that the status quo, full of corruption and darkness, could continue to dominate to benefit the wealthy and powerful, as always. It would seem that they were successful, because Jesus Christ ended up on the cross.

However, that Cross represented and continues to represent the borderline of the Resurrection. It was the light that Jesus represented in the beginning and continues to represent today in His Resurrection, because His death on the cross was not the last word of the Father who, despite appearances in many moments, never abandoned His Son, but brought Him back to life and gave Him life for ever. "It is true. He is alive. He has risen." It was not easy for the disciples on the road to Emmaus to understand it, and to realise that the Risen One was walking with them, until "their eyes were opened" and then they saw the light, their lives were changed, and they hurried back to tell the others.

Fortunately, there are also many lights in our world. Every day, many people and institutions of all religions, ideas, ethnicities and countries kindle a myriad of lights which speak of life, goodness, love and the struggle for peace and freedom. However, it is also true that there are still many crosses, on which many people are constantly suffering and dying, victims of hatred and greed, of bloody feuds between brothers. We cannot forget that every day is Good Friday in many parts of the world, which seeks to snuff out the light which rises every day and is built up in the world. But like Jesus Christ, we have to proclaim that these crosses have their limit, and will never again be the last word, because our Father God has decided that the final destination is Life for all, and forever. He suffered that experience in His Son and He continues to suffer it in His children who constantly climb the cross, which is why He has decided to set a limit, raising up His Son and all His children so that they may live forever. This borderline will also come to an end when God wipes away all tears from their eyes, and there will be no more death, and no more mourning or sadness or pain. The world of the past will have gone (cf. Revelation 21:4).

Experiences of light in our world are expressions and harbingers of the Resurrection, of the triumph of life over the cross, darkness and death. These lights are what fill us with hope in our world and spur us on to continue to commit ourselves to the plan that Jesus of Nazareth is offering us. In our Order there are many lights burning at every moment, every minute, through acts of love, compassion and hospitality, which are bursts of light that reveal the Resurrection to the world, showing that Christ remains alive and that there is Hope for the world.

These lights are more powerful than the crosses. On this Easter night I invite you to open your eyes and picture in your mind a map of the world showing the many lights which can be seen flickering in the darkness: in the loving help and care for entire families fleeing war or other difficulties, for excluded people who have no home and nothing to eat, for children and adults taking their last breaths, for the aged and people with mental health problems or any kind of disability... in all five continents where our Hospitaller Family of St John of God is present.

Let us stop living in darkness and pessimism.  Let us open our eyes so that we can see the light which is also present among us and which every day calls to mind the Resurrection of Christ. Let us open our eyes to discover Him alive as the disciples did on the road to Emmaus, and let us make haste to spread the word and proclaim it to the four winds: that the power of the light which we have discovered, and the light of the Resurrection which we are celebrating this Easter, are the horizon and the destiny of all the women and men of goodwill in our world.

On behalf of the General Government and all the members of the Hospitaller Family of St John of God of the General Curia, I wish you all A HAPPY EASTER! 

Brother Jesús Etayo