We all need peace. We all need calm, tenderness, affection, joy, understanding.
We all fear loneliness, hatred, violence, mockery, pain, sorrow.
We all carry in our hearts the desire for a more just world, a more fraternal one, a more peaceful one, more innocent.
These needs and fears, these desires unite us. They bring us together in the hope that things will change, that together we can take one step after another without tiring, certain that love reaches beyond appearances, beyond our stumbles, beyond our uncertain steps, beyond the distances that keep us apart.
These needs and fears, these desires unite us in the risen Christ, who assures us—as he did the disciples on the road to Emmaus—in the breaking of bread, that he remains with us forever. Stay with us, Lord, so that evening may never fall in our hearts. To all, without exception, our wishes from all.