Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
We are about to cross the threshold of the Holy Week. Once again, we look forward to an event that has changed the world and our lives. Apostle Peter expresses the importance and influence of the Passover events on our souls as follows: „Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade" (1 Pt 1:3). His followers lived in a society of moral confusion and skepticism; among those for whom life after death was a great question mark. The glad tidings of Christ's resurrection renewed the world of that time just as it renews the world of today. He turned Christians into a «living hope».
However, the current situation seems to be very far removed from this living hope. After two difficult years in which we lived in the grip of a pandemic and its consequences, while we hoped to finally begin to know a new and happier life, a war began not far from us. As with any war, people flee their homes. Many war refugees are coming to Estonia as well. Among them are many children whose eyes are filled with fear and apprehension. More than usual, we feel that illness, death, war and conflict are unfortunately still a part of human life and we do not see them disappearing or at least decreasing. More than usual, people ask what the meaning of all this suffering is, why God allows such things….. The meaning and origin of moral evil and physical suffering is not something that we can fully understand, at least not on this Earth. Evil and suffering are like a dark cloud over humanity – an opaque cloud – even though we know that it is always, directly or indirectly, linked to the sin that accompanies us from the time of our ancestors. But we know that man is not created for evil and suffering, but for happiness and love. The Cross on Good Friday reminds us of that. Jesus Christ has wanted to share our sufferings and the consequences of our sins by saying “love each other... greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends" (Jn 15:12-13). But let us not forget that by the death of Jesus on the cross is born His resurrection.
Dear brothers and sisters, if we feel a heavy burden of concern for our own lives or for the world, let us look to the cross of Christ as the Church does every year on Good Friday. At the cross of Christ, we find an inexhaustible source of hope, peace and joy, because God never leaves us alone in the face of hardship, and His grace is always greater than our trials. Looking towards the cross of Christ, for example with the help of the contemplations of the Cross, peace will return, all problems will find their proper place, and we will again find greater energy to better cope with the challenges of our lives and the problems of the world.
What Pope Francis has done for the whole world at the feast of the Lord's proclamation on March 25th this year, he will continue to do. Likewise, let us all continually pray for peace through the patronage of the Holy Virgin Mary, Queen of Peace.
Dear brothers and sisters, let us live now and forever in the hope that the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ has brought to us. Holy Virgin Mary, Queen of Peace, pray for us!
+ Philippe Jourdan
Apostolic Administrator of Estonia
Tallinn, 4 April 2022