P. Desiderio García Martínez, O.Carm. — 2026
Easter greetings from the Prior General

Dear brothers and sisters of the Carmelite Family: Christ is risen!

Let us joyfully celebrate the resurrection of Christ, which forms the cornerstone of the Christian faith. Faith is born from a personal encounter with the Risen Christ and transforms into a surge of courage and freedom that impels us to proclaim to the world: Jesus is risen and lives for evermore!

The Genesis Midrash narrates: «A king built a house. Then he invited his friends to celebrate with a splendid feast. Everything seemed to be going well, the evening proceeded perfectly, people were happy, but the hours passed and night fell. Then panic spread: they couldn't see each other, let alone enjoy the banquet. The king said, “What use is all this to me if I have no light to enjoy it?” Then God said, «Let there be light!» and there was light. «And God saw that the light was good.» And together with the light there was eternal joy, eternal banquet, eternal feast...» (Bereshit Rabah / Gn 1:3). Christ is the Light that has conquered the darkness. With the resurrection, God's day enters the night of history. The resurrection of Christ, a historical truth, is more than a simple biological resuscitation of a corpse; it is the most decisive ontological leap for humankind. The resurrection is an explosion of love that has broken the unhappy link that existed between birth and death, transforming it into another blessed sequence: to be born, to die, and to live. God's immense love makes us immortal. Martín Descalzo, a Spanish writer, expressed it thus: «In the course of my life I have dreamed of a myriad of things. Now I know that... only by loving will I live eternally; that the only fragments of my soul that will have truly been alive will be those that I dedicated to loving, serving, and helping someone. And it took me fifty years to discover this!».

The Easter mystery has ushered in a new era, a new world (cf. 2 Cor 5:17). Christ's resurrection has opened a new phase of history, which will conclude when all things are recapitulated in Christ, the one Head. Through baptism we have been buried in death with Christ so that we may rise to new life. And why rise again? Let us remember Teresa of Ávila: «To rise again to die again in the labours of love.» Only if we have risen can we give life! Live to serve daily in your work… Live to assist our sick brothers and sisters… Live to be sowers of justice and peace around us… «This is the purpose of our lives: to rise again, to die again, each day, by loving.» The world will believe if it sees that the Body of Christ has risen. And we are the members of the Body of Christ. Now more than ever we need an army of the resurrected, immune to death, sadness, discouragement… who heal broken hearts, comfort the afflicted, sow hope, have a sense of humour; who recognise Him present in the Eucharist; who proclaim Him as the sole Lord of Life… «One night was enough for the Lord to free Israel from Egypt; but it took forty years for the Lord to free Egypt from the heart of Israel.» What is still in our lives that needs to rise again?

Mary, Mother of Carmel, help us to understand this mystery of love that transforms hearts and allow us to fully savour the Easter joy, so that in our turn we may transmit it to the men and women who surround us.