The Pope wanted it to be the resurrection of each of us. As he said before Easter 1986, “a new impulse, a new fervor of faith, good deeds, love, justice, and mercy.” An instruction for us how to live the Resurrection of the Lord to be resurrected with Him. John Paul II was convincing that “Passover must be a celebration of life, of rebirth, of the discovery of God.” In the third year of his pontificate, he explained very simply that at the beginning there is an “old man” in the center of Easter Eve. That is “a man of sin who is to die with Christ, with Him to be buried.” All this so that “a new man” is born at the dawn of Easter Sunday. A man who lives anew through Christ.”
For the Holy Father, an empty tomb meant more than the resurrection of Christ, says Archbishop Mokrzycki. For him – and he spoke about it many times – an empty tomb meant a new life in grace, that is, a new man. (…)
But, also during the most important night of the liturgical year, there were funny stories. Prelate Ptasznik recalls how one of the men baptized by the Pope once amused him to tears. From all nervousness, instead of tilting his head so the water could be poured on his head, he put it in the baptismal tank – says Prelate. It amused the Holy Father so much that he had to hold his laugh until his tears flowed. And, on the next day the newspapers wrote that he was so moved that he cried.
With the consent of Archbishop Mieczysław Mokrzycki – “A place for everyone”
Znak Publishing House, Kraków 2013.
