I want you

Easter reminds us that the Father wants to give us true life back

Jesus does not want even one of the little ones that the Father has entrusted to him to be lost. He wants to bring us to the fullness of his joy, which becomes ours.

As Easter approached, I asked myself which Word could accompany me in this time. A verse from the Gospel of Luke came up to me that I had never paid attention to. Jesus says to his disciples: "I have longed to eat this Passover with you, before my Passion" (Lk 22:16).

It struck me that Jesus uses the word desired and that he emphasizes it so much, it means that it is not a trivial desire, it is something strong, it is decisive for Him. Desire comes from the Latin de-sidera: lack of stars, which for Ancients were precious tools for orientation. Jesus misses his friends, like the stars in the sky. Even in the last moments of his earthly life, while he is facing the hardest moment, his desire is not to find a way out to save himself, but to gather his friends at the table and eat Easter with them. He wants his friends, he wants fraternity, he wants to be with them, with us, with me.

Before handing himself over to the torturers, he hands himself over to his friends, among whom there are those who will betray him, those who will abandon him, those who will misunderstand him, but he does not give up that desire of the heart. He loves them and gives them all of himself. He makes himself bread and blood to give them life, out of love. Then he will face his passion, alone, for this gift to be fulfilled. But that gesture, that sign will remain forever as a sprout of new life for the disciples and for all humanity, up to us and beyond.

Jesus' desire is the meaning of his very life. He wants to fulfill the Father's desire, without delaying, without looking for ways out: to free humanity from evil, to save it, to restore true life to it. One and only wish to be fulfilled. None of the Three holds back, Father, Son and Spirit incessantly continue to seek ways to communicate it to the heart of every man and every woman, and a glimmer of light is enough for God to be able to enter hearts and rekindle even the most distant lives, which feel lost or that the world judges lost.

In his desire for good for all, there is the life of each of us, there are our stories, there are our small and large desires that He knows, welcomes and directs towards that infinite Good that the Father wants to give us. Jesus does not want one of the little ones that the Father has entrusted to him, not even a creature, to be lost. He wants to bring us to the fullness of his joy, which becomes ours. He gathers us at table with him, and he wants it more than anything else, to make us share in his joy of living every moment in the Father's heart, immersed in his love.

This Easter I will often think that Jesus longs to sit at the table with me. He will often think that he wants to give himself to me as food, feed me, feed me, make me happy. We struggle with our little human projects while He wants us to make the best of who we are.

He offers us the dream that we all cultivate deep down: to be happy, always, forever. Of that happiness that doesn't come from satisfying our little desires but from knowing and feeling madly loved, madly desired. Favorite children of the Father, children in the Son. Love yourself in him and like him.

Pope Francis writes: "Before our response to his invitation - much before - there is his desire for us: we may not even be aware, but every time we go to Mass the primary reason is because we are attracted by his desire for us . For our part, the possible response (...) is, as always, that of surrendering to his love for him, of wanting to let oneself be attracted by him".

The desire, the only desire of Jesus is our happiness, a happiness which is not not having problems or difficulties, but it is living our life with Him, realizing with Him what the Father has in his heart. He wants us because he loves us. The desire for us rekindles our desire for him. His love for him makes us capable of loving him and our brothers. Beloved we love. Desired, we desire.

Rosanna Tabasso

NP Aprile 2023