Munich Cardinal Marx: “Easter is a resource of hope” – Munich

Cardinal Reinhard Marx has called Easter “a resource of hope”. During his sermon in the Liebfrauendom during the pontifical mass on Easter Sunday, the Archbishop of Munich and Freising said that the crises of recent years – climate, war – have had numerous negative effects on people. Young people in particular have to struggle with depression and a lack of courage.

On the other hand, the Easter festival “set signs of the new creation that is present, where faith, love and hope, mercy, peace, community at one table, reconciliation can be experienced and seen.” The resurrection of Jesus is a rebellion against egoism and despair, “against violence, aggression, war and hatred”.

The “Easter mission” of the church should become “a kind of open marquee” for the experience of mercy, peace, community and reconciliation, of faith, love and hope, for all peoples, an invitation to take a seat at the big table and live to celebrate that which is stronger than death. “An open church, an open marquee!” the cardinal wished: “Yes, that would be a happy Easter.”

At the “Crossroads of the Peoples” on Good Friday, when the archbishop led several thousand believers from St. Michael’s Church to Marienplatz, Marx made much more political statements. In view of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, he called on those responsible at all levels to “seek and find ways to end this war: the killing must end”.

Defending against an attacker is justified, hence supporting those who are being attacked. Nevertheless, it should not be accepted “that a war drags on for years without even showing how it will end.”

According to Marx, the Way of the Cross in downtown Munich, with its diversity of languages, cultures and nations, brings people together who urgently pray for peace in Europe and in the world. “We pray for the repentance of those who practice violence. We pray for those responsible at all levels who are trying, perhaps initially behind closed doors, to use all avenues to stop the machinery of death and killing. We pray for them people who are injured or killed in war, especially for the children,” said Marx.

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