14 April 1985
Ljubljana, Yugoslavia

My dear Friends in Jesus Christ,

It is a great joy for me to have this opportunity of celebrating Mass with you on what St. John in today's Gospel calls "the first day of the week." (Jn 20:1). Today our Orthodox brethren are celebrating Easter Sunday. Perhaps it would be nice if all of us who believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead celebrated Easter Sunday every year together on the same Sunday. Perhaps some time in the future that may be agreed upon. Meantime, however, we can all agree on this truth, that every Sunday is a little Easter Sunday. For on every Sunday, "the first day of the week," whether it be in winter or in smmer, in Lent or in Advent, we recall in a special way that it was on a Sunday,"the first day of the week," that Jesus Christ rose gloriously from the tomb. In doing so has given us, who believe in Him, an assurance that we, too, will, by His power, rise from the dead.

When we have an argument with a person, we like to win; we like to have the last word. Jesus Christ had an argument with death, and He not only won the argument and rose from the dead, but He also had the last word. His last word to us was that He would be with us always, that we would see Him again, that our hearts would rejoice and that no one would be able to take that joy from us. "I will come back," He said, "and take you to be with Me so that you also may be where I am." (Jn 14:3).

There are people who say that there will be no resurrection, that there is nothing after death. There are atheists who go around trying to convince others that all this talk about another life is a fairy tale. When next you hear an atheist talking in that way, think of springtime. During the long hard winter that you have experienced, you probably said to yourselves: "Will spring ever come this year?" The ground was frozen hard for a long time. There was not a sign of life in the fields or on the trees. But now everything is changing. Flowers are appearing, the wheat is growing in the fields, the leaves are beginning to appear on the trees. No human power can keep back springtime. The winter may seem for a time to have had the last word, but no, each year winter is conquered by spring.

The winter of atheism may seem long. It may seem to be having the last word. But no, since the day Jesus Christ rose from the dead, the first signs of an eternal springtime have begun to appear. Each of us has met Christians who, despite great suffering that cannot be explained, have continued to believe that death is not the end. These people are signs for us that Jesus Christ has really risen. They are convincing arguments that the winter of atheism is breaking up. Many elderly people died during the cold of this last winter. If you asked them before they died, if spring was going to come, if they believed that spring would come after their death, they would say, "Yes, of course." So, too, a Christian who dies is convinced that he or she, despite death, will rise again, because Jesus Christ has said so. On the day when man can stop springtime coming, that will be the day when Christians will cease to believe in the Resurrection from the dead.

So, my dear people, I say to you what Jesus Christ said to His disciples on the first day of the week, "Peace be with you." (Jn 20:19). When I say, "Peace be with you," I say it in the name of Jesus Christ, Who has risen from the dead and Who is present here this morning among us. May His peace cast out from your hearts all fear, as it did from the hearts of the disciples. May you be strengthened, through the