Welcome to all of you who have come to spend these days with us as we remember Jesus’ decision to love right up to his final breath. In doing so, Jesus shows us who God is and tells us that nothing can separate us from God’s love: neither life nor death, neither suffering or violence.

We have followed Jesus’ steps throughout this week from his entry into Jerusalem, his last meal with his friends, his unjust trial and condemnation, before giving his life for all on the cross. Today we wait in silence for the final confirmation of that love which knows no limits, which re-opens paths of forgiveness and communion, leading us all towards everlasting life.

You have come in large numbers from Germany, France, Portugal, Italy and Spain, but I would like to greet especially the Palestinians from Bethlehem who are with us this week, as well as the young people from Ukraine. Your presence here embodies our desire to remember all who are affected by war and oppression in our troubled world. We think also of people struggling for justice under authoritarian regimes. I would like to ask John from Bethlehem and Anna from Kyiv to say some words to us:

John from Bethlehem: “Lord God, we are daughters and sons of the Holy Land you chose to visit in the birth, life, death and resurrection of your Son Jesus.

 

Our country is marked by war, injustice and destruction. However, we remain hopeful and resilient because you walk with us and we can place our trust in you.

 

We are grateful for our families and friends who support us, listen to us, protect us, encourage us, and help us to continue our journey in this life. They give us hope and strength.

 

We are grateful for the privilege of living in the Holy Land; we can easily go to pray in the Church of the Nativity to remember your love for us. This gives us hope and strength.

We are grateful for the opportunity to study in the university that provides a safe place for us to learn, to open our minds and our hearts to the world and to you. This gives us hope and strength.

 

We are grateful for art, music and especially our choir that gives us a place for us to get together and to express both our pain and our praise through music with a united voice; we know you hear us. This gives us hope and strength.

 

We are grateful for your living Word in the Gospel, especially your Beatitudes that remind us that although the situation is difficult now, you promise better days: you promise the Kingdom of God. This gives us hope and strength.

 

We are grateful for hearts and minds that we use to serve one another without expecting return, building a community of hope and strength that helps us to persevere.

 

You are with us. We thank you and we call to you for help.”

 

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Anna from Ukraine: “Holy Week is a very special time. When I was thinking about how to spend it this year, the Taizé community felt like the most right place to be; and especially during these challenging times, a place to reflect more deeply about what resurrection means.

 

I was last in Taizé three years ago, also during Easter Week. It was just a couple of months after the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine. That week became a significant milestone in building my foundation of resilience and hope, alongside many other unexpected gifts I received.

 

When I think about the Taizé community today, I ask myself: What is it so important for me to come back here, again and again?

 

I first came to Taizé ten years ago, around the time war first reached Ukraine and affected the eastern regions. The Taizé community expressed deep solidarity and support for the Ukrainian people at that time. One vivid memory I carry from that period is Taizé community hosting, several times, a group of children and young people from Ukraine who had become internally displaced within their own country. They were part of the initiative “Children of Hope and Love”—a group of people who were looking for responses to the challenges brought by war, which I was also part of.

 

The invitation from Taizé and the experience of sharing life with those children and young people were powerful signs of friendship, care, and love—things that were deeply needed at the time.

 

I want to express my gratitude for the solidarity and support that the Taizé community has continuously shown over these ten difficult years for Ukraine—through prayers, actions, and presence.

 

So, what is it so important for me to come back here, again and again?

 

Taizé is a place where I can be reminded—often through others—of simple but deeply supportive truths. For example, during this morning’s sharing group, i was reminded that the hand of Jesus is always on our shoulder, even when we tend to forget it.

 

Today, Taizé is, for me, a place where we can offer each other the consolation and hope we all need, especially in difficult times.”

The young Palestinians and Ukrainians carried the cross for us on Friday and this evening the icon where we see Jesus pulling Adam, the first man, towards the light. Tomorrow you will carry the Paschal candle at the start of the Eucharist. In this way you help us to pray for what Jesus promises us through his return to life: suffering and death will never have the last word.

We cannot separate the Cross from the Resurrection. But we often find ourselves as Holy Saturday people. We are caught in a kind of waiting. We are perhaps familiar with our own suffering, but also in our societies, in different situations of war in the world and in our wounded creation as well. There are so many people who have are going through shattering experiences around us.

We long for there to be a healing, for peace. We long for a real return to life. Holy Saturday tells us that despite what seems to be a silence, God is somehow at work and bringing about this return to life.

Early tomorrow morning we will gather to listen to readings from the first part of the Bible which tell of God’s creative power of love, of God’s desire to set his people free giving birth to a hope beyond all hope. As we hear them, may these readings open our hearts to that same hope.

Not all of the readings are easy to understand, but they tell us that there is a better place, a more attractive world, that freedom is possible. They also show us that the way passes through the desert.

For we all need to be set free in one way or another, whether that be from what holds us in slavery within, from difficulties linked with our societies, or from troubled situations where even our life, our freedom or the freedom of our country are at stake.

I’m very moved by the example of the Prophet Jeremiah. When Jeremiah was in prison and Jerusalem was threatened, he bought a field in Jerusalem. And for me, prophetic gestures like that show our faith in the faithfulness of God. Something within him told him that a future was possible. Our Resurrection faith tells us that new life is possible where no life was apparent.

What does that mean concretely? What are the gestures we are called to make as a sign of trust in a future of peace? What steps can we take in our prayer to remember these different situations where at the moment there seems to be only death? Who are the people who suffer and who live close to us to whom we could extend a helping hand?

Does it mean leaving our comfort zone to be where nobody wants to go? Or perhaps being with people who are simply different from us? Or staying in touch with people who are living in a situation of war. These are the questions I ask myself today. Perhaps I can share them with you.

And maybe there are no immediate solutions we can bring, but by being present, something unexpected happens. Over the past year our brothers have regularly visited young people in Ukraine. Visits have also been made in Lebanon, Jerusalem and the West Bank. These will all continue.

During such visits, there is a transformative experience on both sides as people realise that they are not forgotten and we discover the courage of these people. Our trust is renewed and something returns to life in us.

A final point: from 28 December to 1 January, we hope that you will be able to join us for our annual European meeting of young adults. After being in Tallinn at the start of this year, our next meeting will take place in Paris and the surrounding Île-de-France region.

We have been invited for this European meeting by the Archbishop of Paris and the bishops of the province, as well as Protestant and Orthodox leaders. In Tallinn, the Archbishop told us that the cathedral of Notre Dame will welcome all of us, with her doors open so that we can encounter Christ who is waiting for us. This meeting will also be a sign of our desire for peace and fraternity in the human family, yes, for hope beyond all hope.

Now we’ll continue with the prayer, but before we start singing again, let each of us whisper to the person next to us: “Christ is risen!” And they can whisper back “He is risen indeed!”

And from tomorrow and for the weeks to come, greet your sisters and brothers in the faith with this greeting. Dare to believe in the sign of the empty tomb. Then the peace and joy of the Risen Christ will be with us all!