5th International Congress of the Commissaries of the Holy Land
Holy Sepulchre
Jerusalem, 25 November 2025
Dear brothers,
may the Lord give you His peace!
Gathering here, in the beating heart of our faith, in the place where Christ rose from the dead, is a gift and a grace. Every time we enter this Holy Sepulchre, the Gospel comes alive again—vivid, concrete, present. We do not celebrate a memory, but an event that continues: the victory of life over death, of hope over despair, of light over darkness.
In the letter of Saint Paul to the Colossians we heard: “Seek the things that are above, where Christ is.” This is not an invitation to flee from the world or ignore its wounds. On the contrary, it is a call to look at the world through the eyes of the Risen One.
“The things that are above” are not distant places: they are the gaze, the mindset, the logic of Christ. To seek the things that are above means to seek what brings life, mercy, reconciliation; to desire what endures, what has value, what builds.
And here, in this place, we understand that “the things above” are not abstract: they are carved in the stone rolled away from the tomb. They are the life that is reborn, the peace that conquers fear, the love that never gives up.
Dear brothers, you Commissaries are called precisely to this: to lift up the gaze of the Christian communities in your territories; to remind them that the center of faith is not fear, but the Resurrection; not resignation, but hope; not man, but Christ.
In the Gospel we heard the announcement of the angel and then the encounter of the women with the Risen Lord. It is striking to hear the message that Jesus entrusts to them: “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee: there they will see me.”
Galilee… the place of beginnings, the place of the call, the place of daily life with Jesus.
It is significant that, from the tomb itself, Jesus invites His disciples to return to their origins. He does not keep them near the tomb, but sends them forth again. He does not ask them to guard a place, but to guard a relationship. He does not ask them to remain still, but to set out once more.
And so it is with you, dear Commissaries. You come here, to the Sepulchre, the heart of faith, to listen, to pray, to meet one another. But you are not called to remain. Like the disciples, you are sent back to your Galilees: to your friaries, your cities, the communities you accompany.
It is there that the Risen One goes before you. It is there that He desires to be encountered anew. It is there that His voice still calls: “Follow me.”
Between this holy place – where the announcement of the Resurrection is kept alive – and the places where you serve, a deep connection is formed: a real, though invisible, bridge. The Holy Sepulchre is the origin; your territories are the continuation.
Every time you proclaim the Holy Land, every time you support the Christians of this region, every time you help the faithful rediscover the roots of their faith, you make resound again the ancient proclamation: “He is not here. He is risen!”
You are like an echo of the empty tomb; messengers who carry to your Churches the light that burns perpetually in this place. The whole Church needs this bond: it needs someone to remind it that everything began here—and that from here everything continues.
From the place where death was conquered, your mission is born once more today. From the place where the Risen One appeared, your strength to return to your lands is renewed. From the place of the Resurrection’s announcement, your own proclamation springs forth.
