Acta Apostolicae Sedis - Commentarium Officiale354

At the Passover Sèder you recall the holy patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and

Jacob, and the holy women of Israel, Sarah, Rebecca, Rachael and Leah, the

beginning of the long line of sons and daughters of the Covenant. With the

passing of time the Covenant assumes an ever more universal value, as the

promise made to Abraham takes form: ''I will bless you and make your name

great, so that you will be a blessing... All the communities of the earth shall

find blessing in you''.4 Indeed, according to the prophet Isaiah, the hope of

redemption extends to the whole of humanity: ''Many peoples will come and

say: 'Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God

of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his

paths'''.5 Within this eschatological horizon is offered a real prospect of uni-

versal brotherhood on the path of justice and peace, preparing the way of the

Lord.6

Christians and Jews share this hope; we are in fact, as the prophets say,

''prisoners of hope''.7 This bond permits us Christians to celebrate alongside

you, though in our own way, the Passover of Christ's death and resurrection,

which we see as inseparable from your own, for Jesus himself said: ''salvation

is from the Jews''.8 Our Easter and your Pesah, while distinct and different,

unite us in our common hope centered on God and his mercy. They urge us to

cooperate with each other and with all men and women of goodwill to make

this a better world for all as we await the fulfillment of God's promises.

With respect and friendship, I therefore ask the Jewish community to

accept my Pesah greeting in a spirit of openness to the real possibilities of

cooperation which we see before us as we contemplate the urgent needs of our

world, and as we look with compassion upon the sufferings of millions of our

brothers and sisters everywhere. Naturally, our shared hope for peace in the

world embraces the Middle East and the Holy Land in particular. May the

memory of God's mercies, which Jews and Christians celebrate at this festive

time, inspire all those responsible for the future of that region - where the

events surrounding God's revelation actually took place - to new efforts,

and especially to new attitudes and a new purification of hearts!

4 Genesis 12:2-3. 5 Isaiah 2:3. 6 Cf. Isaiah 62:10. 7 Zachariah 9:12. 8 John 4:22.