By Rev. Dr. Paul Baxley
On this Easter Monday, I invite all Cooperative Baptists to join me in offering prayers of gratitude for the life, witness and faithful leadership of Pope Francis. Today, I am grateful to God for his abiding commitment to living out Jesus’ mission to “bring good news to the poor, release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind.”
Pope Francis was a tireless advocate for the marginalized, for immigrants and for those held captive by poverty. He knew the Gospel of Jesus Christ demanded not only the saving of souls but also the transformation of lives. He also extended his witness through a deep commitment to caring for God’s creation—our “common home” and urging its protection. In a world where too many religious and political leaders demonstrate arrogance and lead toward hate, Pope Francis’ leadership was marked by unmistakable humility and sacrificial love.
Today, I invite us not only to offer prayers of gratitude for Pope Francis’ life and leadership, but also to pray for the Roman Catholic Church in this season of grief and transition, that the Holy Spirit might offer comfort in this time of loss while also guiding the selection of the next Pope in due time. While there remains much that separates Baptists from Catholics, we are bound by our common faith in Jesus Christ and a shared desire to participate in Christ’s mission around the world.
Just hours before he died, Pope Francis offered his annual Easter blessing in St. Peter’s Square. His words offered assurance of the promise of resurrection and a call to be instruments of resurrection in our broken world today. Among his proclamation were these powerful statements:
The resurrection of Jesus is indeed the basis of our hope. For in the light of this event, hope is no longer an illusion. Thanks to Christ — crucified and risen from the dead — hope does not disappoint! Spes non confundit! (cf. Rom 5:5). That hope is not an evasion, but a challenge; it does not delude, but empowers us.
All those who put their hope in God place their feeble hands in his strong and mighty hand; they let themselves be raised up and set out on a journey. Together with the risen Jesus, they become pilgrims of hope, witnesses of the victory of love and of the disarmed power of Life.
Christ is risen! These words capture the whole meaning of our existence, for we were not made for death but for life. Easter is the celebration of life! God created us for life and wants the human family to rise again!
What a great thirst for death, for killing, we witness each day in the many conflicts raging in different parts of our world! How much violence we see, often even within families, directed at women and children! How much contempt is stirred up at times towards the vulnerable, the marginalized, and migrants!
On this day, I would like all of us to hope anew and to revive our trust in others, including those who are different than ourselves, or who come from distant lands, bringing unfamiliar customs, ways of life and ideas! For all of us are children of God!
He closed with these words:
Dear brothers and sisters, in the Lord’s Paschal Mystery, death and life contended in a stupendous struggle, but the Lord now lives forever (cf. Easter Sequence). He fills us with the certainty that we too are called to share in the life that knows no end, when the clash of arms and the rumble of death will be heard no more. Let us entrust ourselves to him, for he alone can make all things new (cf. Rev. 21:5)!
Happy Easter to everyone!
The hope of resurrection is not just a truth to which Pope Francis gave his life, it is now a promise he receives. With resurrection confidence let us pray for him with gratitude, pray for the church he led with faithfulness and live Christ’s mission of resurrection in the world so that through Christ’s Global Church, all things are made new.
Rev. Dr. Paul Baxley serves as Executive Coordinator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.