How do you view this Holy Week?
The Easter week is the summit, for the liturgical season, because it commemorates the absolute offering of God in Jesus Christ for all of us… It is to celebrate this closeness to God, which has been made himself a man to share our lives, but who really offers himself despite the violence of his time, which we find today, to go until his own resurrection. Life stronger than death, than our sins, than the harm we can do. So there is a lot of hope in this Easter season.
premium 45 catechumens will be baptized this Saturday evening in the diocese of Chartres
How is the Easter Vigil the highlight of this Holy Week?
Because it is the great annual celebration, which includes the baptism of the catechumens, and which is lived in a kind of joy that always moves me. I see their joy in being seized by a presence that goes beyond them, that of God.
“It’s very mysterious”
The journey of the catechumens can surprise…
Many young adults have been brought up in schools and in families where faith is not spoken of. Some receive a testimony of a living faith and they are challenged because deep in their hearts there is a desire that goes beyond, as with many human beings, simple social and material success. It’s very mysterious. There is a greater unfulfilled desire, and all of a sudden they discover, in the presence of Christ, the words and the face of someone who says: “I am the answer to your desire”.
“It’s only the beginning of a journey”
What message are you going to deliver to them?
I will tell them that it is Christ, the figure of Jesus, who matters first. We are Christians because we follow someone who is Jesus Christ. Secondly, I will tell them that this is only the beginning of a journey, that they still have a lot to discover, that it takes perseverance to be a Christian. And maybe I’ll also tell them that it’s not magic, baptism, that it’s not the cure for all the problems, because the problems and the suffering will remain, whether it’s bereavement , illness, rejection, unemployment… But the big difference is that we no longer live our sufferings alone, we live them accompanied by someone who loves us infinitely, and whose presence we share with brothers. and sisters. And that changes everything.
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