Don’t be afraid,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here […] 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’”(The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ, according to St Mark, 16, 7-8)

“Don’t be afraid. But go. He is going ahead of you into Galilee”

The Risen Christ. Through the centuries, so many artists have tried to give us a picture, a visible impression of the risen Christ. They have failed, even the great Raphael. You cannot represent Christ risen from the dead, because He is the strength, He is the wholeness, He is the future, He is the victory over evil, He is our Hope and Joy. You cannot “represent” Christ the risen. You can only raise yourself to join Him in spirit, and let the Spirit of risen Christ enter into your heart and mind, fill them with hope and strength, and then follow Him, with new determination, new strength, new will, new hope, in a “a springtime of the heart”.

He is risen. First, he has been raised on the cross, like the bronze snake in the desert, as a sign for the nations; the sign of the immense love of God for us, poor human beings, inconstant and weak, hesitating and doubtful, skeptic and frail, but created in the image of God, and called to salvation. On the cross, raised above the earth, He has won for us, victory over evil, over sin, over treachery, over hypocrisy, over doubts. He is the sign, the Glory of God on the cross, sign for the nations, sign for each one of us.

Now, He has risen from the dead, forever. Rising from the dead He calls us to follow Him, to rise from our little deaths, from our misery, from our weakness, from our doubts, from our fears, from the winter of our hearts. He is risen for us, that we may follow Him toward our own resurrection.

“Don’t be afraid”. This is what the “young man” tells Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome. “Don’t be afraid”. The “young man” is Jesus who has risen, “clothed in a white robe”. The ‘women at the grave” cannot recognize Him because He is all “new”, all hope. He pulls us out of the grave. He asks us to look toward the future, toward this “Galilee” where we can join Him. He ask us to shake the “old man” In us, to throw away our coldness of heart, our hesitations, our tiredness, to make us also “new”, with a new heart, and a new determination, for “Galilee”, for the future.

Christ is fully incarnated, Christ has taken our blood and flesh for ever, so that He can fully restore humanity. He rescues, He restores, He puts us back on our feet.

Chris medicus. Christ who was curing the lepers, giving sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, legs to the paralyzed, and strength to the ones who were just lying, with no energy, no hope, in their bed.
Christ Medicus has become the risen Christ, who fully restores humanity in his own risen body, and who invites us to follow Him toward our own resurrection. And our own resurrection starts now, when we decide to follow him, to walk in his footsteps.

For the Christian medical doctor, Easter has a special meaning. A meaning of strength, joy, and purification of the heart. Christian medical doctors daily follow Christ Medicus, healing, bending oneself on human misery, accompanying the sick and the dying, giving a little bit of light and joy to patients, our brothers and sisters in humanity. The medical profession is unique, is beautiful, and we should recall that, whenever we are a little tired, or even disheartened. It is in the day after day exercise of this care, in its mundane routine, in its difficulties, sometimes in its constraints, sometimes in its little defeats, giving oneself day after day, with patience, continuity, coherence, resilience, that the medical doctor follow Christ Medicus, answering the call, being present to the sick, when the sun shines or when it rains, in good days as in bad days.

At Easter, we change, Christ Medicus becomes the Risen Christ and He calls us upward, to raise our sight above the day-to-day labor, the day-to-day routine, the day-to-day little difficulties and little joy. In the same way as a mountain climber stops a moment to look around, fill his lungs with new air, take new strength and new energy, the medical doctor , at Easter, has to take a little pause, to raise his sight, look at the Risen Christ, fill the heart with new strength, new determination and new hope.

The risen Christ calls the Christian medical doctor to follow him, with his head above the clouds, with his sight filled with light, with a new strength to go ahead, to go forward “into Galilee”: to meet the risen Christ in the daily exercise of the medical profession. As a generalist, in daily contact with sick people, practicing a “medicine for the patient” rather than a “medicine for the disease”, and as a specialist, with his expertise one giving a little time, a little comfort, a little joy to each one of his patients.

A temptation in the daily routine grind of the medical profession, is to let oneself become disheartened when there is too much work, too long days of labor, little results sometimes, or some incomprehensible, some hardships at time. Then our heart may harden as we arm ourselves with some defenses. Then we may reduce our availability, the time we give to each patient, our attention to what they say, with a temptation to become bureaucratic, very much attentive to our rights, our hours of work. We then abandon the spirit of the medical profession adopting instead the spirit of an administrative job, with a fixed amount of time for each patient – this time and nothing more, with a restricted attention to each patient – this hearing and nothing more. Fortunately, this hardening of the heart, this closing down on oneself, does not happen too often, but it may happen to every one of us. There exist this temptation of changing the noble practice of medicine as a vocation to that of an ordinary bureaucratic job.

We need to experience the true meaning of Christ’s resurrection. It is true that the risen Christ is a promise of resurrection and eternity for every one who believes in Him. But resurrection, each one’s resurrection, starts now, if we wish. Resurrection is energy, strength, victory over evil, going forward, releasing all our fears and coldness of heart, to let Christ’s life and energy come down in our hearts and minds, to rise, to get on one’s feet, to stand up, to face without fear the future, with all its uncertainties, difficulties and hardships. The Risen Christ has shown us the way and invites us to the possibility of leading a beautiful, rich life, the possibility of giving fruits, of having a fecund life, a true humane life.

As Christian doctors, this need to get energy, strength, light and hope from the risen Christ is even more vital, more fundamental, because Catholic doctors are called to serve the sick in the worst conditions leaving them disheartened and lonely at times. The little time that Christian medical doctors can give, in their consultations, when they listen to their patients, when they are good professionals, is very important. This little time is all what patients need to get comforted, reassured, to get out of dark ideas, gloomy ideas, to feel that they are listened to, to have their dignity restored, and ultimately to be healed. Even the specialist, who sees a patient once, and might never see him again, has an important role, because he can give one word of hope, one word of reassurance, one advice to be resilient, to resist the invading disease, and this word will be enough when combined with competent skills.

This world may seem going a little astray, taking some negative, inhuman directions, incapable of getting back in the straight road. This world may seem to us to be losing its values, abandoning the Christian lighthouse to go towards unknown seas, in perilous directions dominated by technology and money. We seem to be facing a new world, invaded by artificial intelligence, genomic modifications, lack of solidarity, rising bureaucracy and tightening freedom. But it has, in fact, always been like that. “Seculum” said the Fathers of the Church. Seculum means the hopelessly thick sin of the world, the evil of the World, always present, always active, always stubbornly negative, anti-life, blind. But the Fathers immediately added: look on the Risen Christ. He has won. He has conquered. He will triumph again over sin and evil,if we trust in Him.

Christian medical doctors need Easter, need to look forward, towards the future, with a renewed strength, a renewed trust and a renewed hope. All this we can in the Risen Christ. There is yet hope for the world.
All we have to do is to your part, with calmness and coherence, with a good and strong heart, go through the difficulties, face the problems, and you will bear fruits, and abundant fruits. And you will be truly Christian medical doctors, Christ Medicus at the bedside of side of your patients, in the light of the Risen Christ and hope for the World.

Father Jacques Suaudeau