.- Mary is the model of the Christian community during Easter, “who rejoices in the Easter of her Lord, the source of authentic joy for all believers,” said Pope John Paul II today during the Angelus, when the “Regina caeli” was sung.
The "Regina caeli", which expresses Mary’s joy for the Resurrection of her divine Son, is always sung during the Angelus during the Easter Season.
The Risen Christ is “the source and the ultimate reason of this spiritual joy, which no shadow can and must darken,” said the Pope. “Aware of this salvific event, which changed the course of history, the Church joins the one person who lived most closely the Passion, death and Resurrection of Jesus.”
The pope said on this Easter Monday – an extension of Easter Sunday – each person “must pause next to the empty tomb” and meditate the great mystery of the Resurrection of Christ.
“The Virgin Mary, silent witness to this mystery, reaffirms us in our own union to the one who died and resurrected for the salvation of every human being,” he said.
The Pope concluded with an invocation to Mary. “May she be our teacher and guide in the faith; sustain us in moments of doubt and temptation; obtain for us serenity, which no fear can shake because it is rooted in the certainty that Christ is truly Risen.”
