My dear fellow citizens,
This year, we are celebrating a different Easter; under the same spring sun, but apart from our churches, apart from our friends and traditional customs.
This year, the Passion Week has lasted more than fifty days. But the light of the Resurrection now illuminates the path to a joyful exit from the pandemic.
With discipline and solidarity, we pushed back its first waves. We safeguarded Public Health. And, staying on the same path, we will soon begin our gradual transition to a new era, when many things will be different.
We mourn the lives lost to the Coronavirus. We are grateful for those who continue fighting against the pandemic, first and foremost the physicians and nurses of the National Health System, but also those who are working even today, on Easter Day, to keep us all safe.
My fellow citizens,
The virus has kept us at home. But it has also allowed us to rediscover ourselves and learn what is important. If we were to recall what pettiness once separated from one another, I am sure we would regret our attitude.
This challenge has brought out the real importance of all people and things. It has highlighted the supreme good of Health, showing that everything we have lived and experienced so far is not self-evident. It has proved that we should not take anything for granted. And that prosperity also has a social dimension, in addition to an economic one.
Crises always induce revaluation. Hence, this health misadventure has brought the essence of politics back to the forefront, namely the readiness and efficiency of the State; the mobilisation of the feeling of responsibility; and, most importantly, the trust and solidarity between us.
Accordingly, a better State will emerge after the pandemic, since today’s necessities shall turn into actions to address those of tomorrow.
We will, however, come out armed with stronger ties between society and the State. We shall “bear one another’s burdens”, as the Apostle Paul called upon us to do. In the face of the economic consequences of the health storm, it is, therefore, our common duty not to leave anyone alone, not to leave anyone behind. Because all of us will have become better citizens and better people in the meantime.
This Easter, we are experiencing a new kind of religious devotion. It is a self-reflection exercise on our deliverance “from the slavery of the devil”, as the psalm says. And I will not deny that I have also reflected on my own personal thoughts and reconsiderations. Because individual progress only comes through challenges, at times when we are confronted with the unexpected and we are fighting against situations we have never encountered before.
The light of the Resurrection shall illuminate our path until life gets, step by step, back to normal.
Until then, let us not endanger what has set us as an example for the whole world to see. We respect the experts, we comply with the rules. In other words, we turn our agony into battle. And we turn the temporary restrictions into bright goals.
We are celebrating Easter at home, but we are turning our gaze to the upcoming Rebirth!
Christ is Risen. Happy Easter to everyone. I wish you happiness, and above all, health.
