TEXT POPE EASTER MESSAGE

1-WORLD QUAKES LAST 2 DAYS.2-Snowy across the North; South temps moderate. 3-Eastern Canada digs out from late winter storm. 4-16 killed by female bomber in Iraq. 5-19 Palestinians arrested in bombing plot 6-Ancient pharaoh's hair returns to Egypt. 8-Hamas Prisoner Swap List is Who's Who of Terror 9-Christian hate sites blasted by Hindus. 10-Text of Pope Benedict's Easter speech.

EARTHQUAKES

MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.

MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:(ETHNIC GROUP AGAINST ETHNIC GROUP) and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.

LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.

WORLD QUAKES LAST 2 DAYS (USGS)

Update time = Tue Apr 10 11:00 AM EDT

APR 10,07
MAP 5.5 ANDAMAN ISLANDS, INDIA REGION
MAP 3.4 GREATER LOS ANGELES AREA, CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.6 NEVADA
MAP 5.0 GREECE
MAP 3.5 RAT ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 5.2 GREECE
MAP 5.1 GREECE
MAP 2.7 OFFSHORE NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.1 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 2.8 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 5.0 GREECE
MAP 2.9 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 3.7 NORTHERN ALASKA
MAP 3.4 NORTHERN ALASKA
MAP 2.7 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA

APR 09,07
MAP 2.5 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.6 NORTHERN ALASKA
MAP 4.4 WESTERN XIZANG
MAP 2.8 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 3.2 PUERTO RICO REGION
MAP 3.6 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 4.6 AZORES ISLANDS REGION
MAP 2.5 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 5.8 KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 4.6 SOUTH OF THE FIJI ISLANDS
MAP 3.3 NORTHERN ALASKA
MAP 5.1 AZORES ISLANDS REGION
MAP 3.5 ALASKA PENINSULA
MAP 2.9 BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO
MAP 2.8 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 2.7 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 4.9 FIJI REGION
MAP 5.4 BOUGAINVILLE REGION, PAPUA NEW GUINEA

STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES

LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

Snowy across the North; South temps moderate Mark Avery, Meteorologist, The Weather Channel Tue Apr 10, 5:17 AM ET

South

The South's temperatures are finally rising, after a weekend of record-setting cold across the region. Showers and thunderstorms will be possible across much of the region today and tonight: the Southern Plains and Gulf Coast today, and into the Southeast and the Florida Peninsula tonight. Temperatures also will not be as cold, with above average highs returning to Texas and near average temperatures over the Florida Peninsula, while the remainder of the region stays below average. More rain is possible over the Southeast on Wednesday, reaching the Southeast Coast on Thursday. Temperatures WILL go back above average across much of the region on Wednesday (except in the Tennessee Valley to the Carolinas) and Thursday (region-wide), before some cooler air returns to West Texas on Friday and spreading across the region over the weekend. More rain and thunderstorms will affect the region Friday through the weekend.

Midwest

Cold continues its grip on the Midwest today. Snow also will become an issue today over the Northern Plains and Upper Midwest, with some significant accumulations possible over the Dakotas eastward through Minnesota to Wisconsin. Snow advisories are in effect over the Dakotas and southwestern Minnesota, with a winter storm watch for much of rest of Minnesota and most of Wisconsin. Snow will move eastward tonight into Wednesday, reaching the Great Lakes by Wednesday afternoon. The next storm system begins to affect the Central Plains on Thursday into Friday, with a chance of rain and snow in Kansas and Nebraska. Rain and wind picks up in the Mississippi Valley on Friday, with some thunderstorms possible as well. Rain and storms push eastward with this system on Saturday, moving up the Ohio Valley; some snow will be possible in the cold air behind the cold front. On Sunday, snow will be possible near the Great Lakes once again. Afternoon highs should stay below average across the region through the weekend, with some moderation in the southern half of Missouri and along the Ohio River. Temperatures in the Northern Plains are expected to be above average on Sunday.

West

Showers will again fall across the Pacific Northwest and Northern Rockies today, with more rain and snow possible in the Central Rockies. The Southwest continues to be dry, and winds will complicate matters today by increasing the fire danger today. Tomorrow, a new storm system moves onshore in Northern California and southern Oregon and spread rain and snow across the West from the California Coast to the Rockies Front Range. Rain will move south into Southern California by Thursday morning, bringing a slight chance of rain to the Los Angeles area. Rain and snow will also be possible over the Intermountain West, before moving into the Central Rockies and Plains on Friday. Friday evening, another system will be moving ashore in the Pacific Northwest, bringing a chance of rain (and mountain snow) across the West over the weekend. Afternoon highs will remain above average near the Mexican border today and Wednesday, with the entire region being near or below average Thursday. High temperatures will warm to slightly above average in the Rockies on Friday through the weekend.

Northeast

Scattered flurries and light snow showers are possible in the interior Northeast today, with cool temperatures expected once again. Rain and snow moves into western New York and western Pennsylvania on Wednesday, with rain moving into the Megalopolis. Rain and snow will be possible again across the region on Thursday. More rain moves into the region over the weekend. High temperatures are expected to remain below average through the weekend.

Eastern Canada digs out from late winter storm Mon Apr 9, 7:32 PM ET

TORONTO (Reuters) - The Easter weekend looked more like Christmas in parts of Canada as the Atlantic provinces dug themselves out of a weekend storm and Eastern Canada shivered. Environment Canada, the national weather service, issued snowfall and wind warnings for Newfoundland and Labrador and wind warnings for the Western provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan, as well as the Arctic territory of Nunavut.The storm in Atlantic Canada, which began on Saturday, battered New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island with winds up to 70 kilometers per hour (48 miles per hour) and as much as 30 centimeters (12 inches) of snow.

Hundreds of travelers were stranded on Sunday when flights were delayed at Halifax Airport, the region's largest, and power outages were reported throughout Nova Scotia.We're getting strong winds from the North, bringing down that cold polar air, said Danny Harvey, a geography professor at the University of Toronto.Temperatures in Quebec and Ontario were around 0C (32F), which is close to the average minimum temperatures, but that's down steeply from balmy spring days last month.
Environment Canada says this winter has been 3 degrees Celsius (5 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than normal, and was the second-warmest winter since national records began in 1948.

16 killed by female bomber in Iraq By SINAN SALAHEDDIN, Associated Press Writer APR 10,07

BAGHDAD - A woman with explosives hidden beneath her black abaya detonated them Tuesday in a crowd of about 200 police recruits northeast of Baghdad, killing at least 16 people, police and hospital officials said. The woman walked into the crowd at the main gate of the Muqdadiyah police station and blew herself up, according to a police officer at the scene who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.At least 16 people were killed and 33 wounded in the mostly Sunni Muslim city about 60 miles northeast of Baghdad, said Dr. Abdul Salam al-Jibour at Muqdadiyah General Hospital.Meanwhile, U.S. and Iraqi army forces were engaged in fierce fighting with gunmen in two Sunni-dominated neighborhoods of the capital, Fadhil and Sheik Omar, police and witnesses said.

An American helicopter in the battle came under ground fire but was not shot down, a senior U.S. military official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because U.S. officials were still investigating.Police said six people, including an Iraqi soldier, were killed and 21 wounded. Repeated artillery fire rang out across Baghdad at midday, but the target was unclear.A parked car bomb exploded at a checkpoint near Baghdad University, killing at least six people and wounding 11, police said. The bomb was packed into a yellow taxi cab near campus, and all of those hurt were civilians, police said.A Katyusha rocket hit a basketball court at a boys school in eastern Baghdad, killing a 6-year-old boy and wounding 17 others 15 students and two teachers, police said.The U.S. military announced the deaths Monday of four U.S. soldiers three killed by a roadside bomb and a secondary explosion in southeastern Baghdad and another killed in combat in western Anbar province.The unit with the three dead soldiers had been conducting raids against militants in the area, and had recently captured five suspects, it said.

The fourth soldier was killed during combat operations in Iraq's western Anbar province, another statement said.At least 3,285 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the war in 2003, according to an Associated Press count. The figure includes seven military civilians.Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, on a four-day trip to Japan, said there was no need to set a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from his country.We see no need for a withdrawal timetable. We are working as fast as we can, al-Maliki said. To demand the departure of the troops is a democratic right and a right we respect. What governs the departure at the end of the day is how confident we are in the handover process.What counts, he added, are achievements on the ground.His comments came a day after tens of thousands of Iraqis took to the streets of two Shiite holy cities, demanding that U.S. forces leave the country. The massive rally, called for by rebel cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, marked the fourth anniversary of the fall of Baghdad.

Al-Sadr, who remains in seclusion and did not attend, ordered up the march as a show of strength not only to Washington but to Iraq's establishment Shiite ayatollahs as well.He issued a statement Sunday urging his Mahdi Army militia to redouble efforts to expel U.S. forces and for the police and army to join the struggle against your archenemy.While he was in Japan, al-Maliki's office issued a statement saying he would travel to Egypt on April 20 for talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and the head of the Arab League, Amr Moussa. It would be al-Maliki's first visit to Egypt the Arab world's most populous nation. Also Tuesday, the U.S. military said it captured more than 150 suspected insurgents in a nearly two-week operation north of Baghdad. Rocket-propelled grenades and launchers, automatic machine guns, sniper rifles and anti-tank mines were also seized, it said.

19 Palestinians arrested in bombing plot APR 10,07

JERUSALEM - Israeli authorities on Tuesday said they have arrested 19 Palestinian militants for planning to set off a huge car bomb in Tel Aviv over the Jewish holiday of Passover. The suspects are all were Hamas members from the West Bank town of Qalqiliya, the Shin Bet security agency said in a statement.The agency said the arrests took place in late March, but details were only cleared for publication on Tuesday, the day after the weeklong holiday ended.Hamas officials in Qalqiliya denied the account and said they were not involved in any plot.Shin Bet said a Palestinian man who apparently intended to blow himself up drove a car packed with 220 pounds of explosives into the Tel Aviv area, then, for reasons not yet clear, returned to Qalqiliya where the car later exploded through a technical malfunction. No one was hurt.

The would-be bomber was able to enter Israel unhindered because he has an Israeli Arab stepmother and holds an Israeli identity card, Shin Bet said. It said the car had Israeli license plates.The Israeli daily Haaretz said the plot was ordered by Hamas renegades in the Gaza Strip who are displeased with the movement's November cease-fire with Israel and its acceptance of the more moderate Fatah movement into a coalition government.Hamas, the senior member in the new Palestinian government, continues to pursue a terror-laden agenda and refuses to abandon the terror option. The Palestinian government is one to be shunned until it forsakes terror and recognizes Israel, said David Baker, an official in the Israeli prime minister's office.Palestinian police officials in the town said the 19 suspects weren't connected to any bombing. They said the militants were rounded up at a Hamas ceremony marking the third anniversary of the Israeli assassination of the group's founder, Sheik Ahmed Yassin.Police said the car held less than 2 pounds of explosives and that it was unlikely Hamas was connected because the bomb was so small. However, they said it remained unclear why the car was carrying explosives.

THIS IS THE VERY PHARAOH THAT GOD DONE THE 10 PLAGUES AGAINST IN THE BIBLE. RAMSES THE SECOND.

Ancient pharaoh's hair returns to Egypt By SETARREH MASSIHZADEGAN, Associated Press Writer APR 10,07

CAIRO, Egypt - Locks of 3,200-year-old hair from the pharaoh Ramses II were unveiled at the Egyptian Museum on Tuesday, returned to Egypt after being stolen 30 years ago in France and put up for sale on the Internet. The small tufts of brown hair were displayed alongside pieces of linen bandages and 11 pieces of resin used in the mummification of Ramses and his son Merneptah in a glass display case. Photographers mobbed the case as Egypt's culture minister and antiquities chief showed off the returned items.The hair will eventually be put on display next to Ramses' mummy at the museum.

The theft of the items was discovered when the pieces of hair were put up for sale on a Web site last November by a French postman, Jean-Michel Diebolt, who gave the hair a price tag of $2,600.Diebolt is the son of a French researcher who examined the 3,200-year-old mummy when it was brought to France in 1976 for treatment to stop the spread of a rare fungus. Diebolt is being investigated in France for allegedly possessing stolen goods.Egyptian antiquities official Ahmed Saleh traveled to Paris early last week to retrieve the stolen items.It was wonderful mission. I felt very great when I had the lock of hair of Ramses II in my hand, said Saleh.Ramses II, who ruled from 1270 to 1213 B.C., is one of ancient Egypt's most famous pharaohs, known for building some of its grandest monuments. Some believe him to be the pharaoh at the time of Moses.

Egypt's antiquities chief, Zahi Hawass, said the retrieval of the items was made possible by the strong diplomatic relations between Egypt and France.Hawass, who has pressed several countries for the return of Egyptian antiquities, said the Internet is playing an important role in the search for other stolen relics.We open the Internet everyday, and the most important source you have are my spies, Hawass said. I have spies all over the world, and those spies, they inform me every day of things you would not believe.Hawass has sought — without success — the return of such finds as the Rosetta Stone at the British Museum, the bust of Nefertiti at Berlin's Egyptian Museum and a pharaonic mask at the St. Louis Art Museum.But he said Egypt is awaiting the arrival of a statue coming from Spain, another artifact from Mexico and duck-shaped lamps that were stolen from Saqqara and will be retrieved from Paris.If Egypt has its way, more artifacts will follow. Saleh added: When one country gives you back your artifact, other countries will do the same.

Hamas Prisoner Swap List is Who's Who of Terror
by Gil Ronen APR 10,07 (INN)

The list of 45 terrorists the Hamas is demanding be freed in return for kidnapped Cpl. Gilad Shalit reads like a Who's Who of terror, and includes men responsible for intentionally murdering scores of Israeli men, women, children and babies and wounding hundreds of others. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will convene a meeting this evening, the first of its kind, to deal with the Hamas demands. Defense Minister Amir Peretz, Shabak chief Yuval Diskin, and Ofer Dekel, who oversees the terrorist-release issue, will take part.The most prominient name on the list of terrorists whose release is demanded is that of Hamas super-terrorist Abdullah Barghouti, who is serving 67 life sentences for the murder of dozens of Israelis and for his part in numerous suicide bombings. He was implicated in the Sbarro horror of August 2001, the triple suicide attack in Ben Yehuda Street in December 2001, the Café Moment atrocity and the Hebrew University attack of June 2002.

Also on the list is Hassan Salameh, who is serving numerous life sentences for the murder of dozens of Israelis. He is the man behind a wave of suicide bombings in 1995 and 1996 that followed the assassination of terror engineer Yihya Ayash. Salameh headed the cell that carried out two suicide attacks on number 18 buses in Jerusalem and at a hitchhiking station in Ashkelon Junction in February 1996. These attacks alone took 46 Israeli lives. The list of those whose release Hamas demands also includes the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine Ahmed Saadat, who ordered the 2001 assassination of cabinet minister Rehavam Ze'evi, and leading Fatah figure Marwan Barghouti, who was sentenced to five life sentences for his involvement in terror attacks against Israeli civilians.

Additional names include Fuad Shubaki, the Yasser Arafat aide who was responsible for financing the Karine A arms-smuggling ship which was intercepted by Israel; Sheikh Hassan Yousef, a member of the Palestinian Authority parliament; Sheikh Abd al-Halk al-Natsha, from Hamas' political leadership; Rouhi Mashaha, one of the founders of Hamas terror network, who has been imprisoned for over 20 years; Nail Barghouti, responsible for bombings carried out in 2002, and Bassam A-Sa'adi, a top Islamic Jihad leader.

Christian hate sites blasted by Hindus
Southern Baptists, Gospel for Asia, CBN targeted in published report
April 10, 2007 - 1:00 a.m. Eastern - By Bob Unruh - WorldNetDaily.com

A new report published by a Hindu foundation is blasting Christian organizations across the nation, including the Southern Baptists' missions board, Gospel for Asia and the Minnesota-based Olive Tree Ministries, which aims its ministry at teaching Christians about their beliefs, for having Internet hate sites.The proliferation of websites promoting religious hatred is an unfortunate consequence of the universality of access to the internet, said Vinay Vallabh, the lead author of the report by the Hindu American Foundation. We must vigorously identify, condemn and counter those who use the Internet to espouse chauvinism and bigotry over the principles of pluralism and tolerance, he said.

Jan Markell, who has been with the Olive Tree Ministries since 1977, has written eight books and hundreds of articles about Christians and their beliefs, at first wondered why she would be listed among ministries hated by a Hindu organization. Then she remembered a series of articles warning Christians against participating in yoga, a Hindu form of worship. I'm big on it [opposing yoga for Christians], she told WND. I talk about it on the radio, and I write about it. And the irony of it all is, like Hindus, we don't want Christians practicing yoga either. Hindus are saying basically, Wait, this is our thing, this is not for you [Christians], Markell told WND. The Hindus get it more right than the Christians on this issue.She said her work involves teaching Christians and encouraging their discernment. There are [many] different issues that Christians are falling for. They have no excuse except they have no discernment, she said. [With Christian yoga], they are trying to sanctify divination. There's no such thing.When Christians invite it [yoga] into their life, they don't seem to know they're inviting in Hinduism, she said. We alert people to those dangers.

Olive Tree Ministries wants you to see how you fit into His grand plan of things as the end of the age draws near, the ministry says. We won't be sensational. We will, however, look to the Bible as our guide. We call on solid, dispensational teachers to speak into this ministry, who minister in a balanced way, just as we strive to do. We find it grievous that the attitude today is that when Jesus and the end-times come, they will come, but in the meantime, I have to live my life in the real world. Bible prophecy is for living in the real world right now.Her site, along with Bible Study Lessons from Antioch, Ill., The Christian Broadcasting Network, Christian Answers of Gilbert, Ariz., Mission Frontiers of Pasadena, Calif., and many others, however, were identified by the Hindu foundation as Internet hate sources. This is the first of what the Hindu American Foundation (HAF) hopes will be an annual report on anti-Hindu hatred found on the Internet, said the report, which was from a group that provides a voice for the 2 million strong Hindu American community.

Hate is an ugly thing, and its ugliness is well illustrated in its various manifestations on the Internet, including those detailed in this report, wrote Jeffery Long, of Elizabethtown College, in the forward.

The Internet, this tool of knowledge and communications, is regularly abused, becoming a vehicle for the worst human impulses, as reflected in the pervasiveness of pornographic websites and websites devoted to fomenting hatred and violence against particular religious and ethnic groups, he wrote. Many of the websites described in this report claim to speak from religious perspectives. But is the greatness of traditions like Christianity or Islam served by denigrating Hinduism or spreading false information about it? This report is a wake-up call to all Americans to work for a society in which all religions are respected, and in which the practitioners of all religions can feel safe and included.The report, called Hyperlink to Hinduphobia: Online Hatred, Extremism and Bigotry Against Hindus, describes how demonic and satanic are the terms most commonly used today to describe Hinduism by numerous anti-Hindu websites easily accessible on the Internet.

As we all know, murderous rampages have been inspired by anti-Semitic and racist websites, said Long. And it is not necessary for a website to exhort its readers to actual, physical violence for it to lead to such violence.It is our hope that this report will encourage ISP's to voluntarily restrict sites that wantonly promote hatred and intolerance towards Hindus and Hinduism or any other religion – a necessary step as we continue our balancing act between free speech and licentious speech that leads to violence in the electronic age, said Vallabh. Attacks on Hindus and their institutions are a daily reality in countries such as Bangladesh, said the report. Last year, even within the United States, a newly completed Hindu temple in Minnesota was desecrated by vandals that went on to destroy deities within the inner sanctum. The hate sites reflected in this report inspire and justify such violence.It advocated blocking content on the Internet judged to be hate speech. Effective solutions require … the cooperation of hosting providers … [who] are companies that maintain and run Web servers which rent space for websites. They may be required to check disturbing content and either remove it or make it inaccessible, the report said.

The report was being distributed to members of Congress, non-governmental organizations, journalists, Hindu leaders and others, and was available for purchase from the organization. A WND reader said it appeared to be nothing more than an attempt to blacklist and ban popular Christian sites as hate sites.The Hindu American Foundation earlier sued the California State Board of Education because it viewed its procedures used to adopt school textbooks as unfair. It demanded that experts have expertise in the specific subject area and be screened for potential conflicts of interest.It also last year condemned remarks made by U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris, R-Fla., when she told the Florida State Baptist Convention that, If you're not electing Christians, then in essence you are going to legislate sin.America is a pluralistic, tolerant society, one in which Ms. Harris's remarks clearly are out of the mainstream, the organization said.

Text of Pope Benedict's Easter speech By The Associated Press
Sun Apr 8, 4:54 PM ET

The Vatican's official English-language translation of Pope Benedict XVI's Urbi et Orbi Easter Day address, delivered in Italian from the balcony in St. Peter's Basilica.

Dear Brothers and Sisters throughout the world,

Men and women of good will!

Christ is risen! Peace to you! Today we celebrate the great mystery, the foundation of Christian faith and hope: Jesus of Nazareth, the Crucified One, has risen from the dead on the third day according to the Scriptures. We listen today with renewed emotion to the announcement proclaimed by the angels on the dawn of the first day after the Sabbath, to Mary of Magdala and to the women at the sepulcher: Why do you search among the dead for one who is alive? He is not here, he is risen! (Luke 24:5-6)

It is not difficult to imagine the feelings of these women at that moment: feelings of sadness and dismay at the death of their Lord, feelings of disbelief and amazement before a fact too astonishing to be true. But the tomb was open and empty: the body was no longer there. Peter and John, having been informed of this by the women, ran to the sepulcher and found that they were right. The faith of the Apostles in Jesus, the expected Messiah, had been submitted to a severe trial by the scandal of the cross. At his arrest, his condemnation and death, they were dispersed. Now they are together again, perplexed and bewildered. But the Risen One himself comes in response to their thirst for greater certainty. This encounter was not a dream or an illusion or a subjective imagination; it was a real experience, even if unexpected, and all the more striking for that reason. "Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, peace be with you! (John 20:19)

At these words their faith, which was almost spent within them, was rekindled. The Apostles told Thomas who had been absent from that first extraordinary encounter: Yes, the Lord has fulfilled all that he foretold; he is truly risen and we have seen and touched him! Thomas however remained doubtful and perplexed. When Jesus came for a second time, eight days later in the Upper Room, he said to him: Put your finger here and see my hands; and put out your hand and place it in my side; do not be faithless, but believing! The Apostles response is a moving profession of faith: My Lord and my God! (John 20:27-28)

My Lord and my God! We too renew that profession of faith of Thomas. I have chosen these words for my Easter greetings this year, because humanity today expects from Christians a renewed witness to the resurrection of Christ; it needs to encounter him and to know him as true God and true man. If we can recognize in this Apostle the doubts and uncertainties of so many Christians today, the fears and disappointments of many of our contemporaries, with him we can also rediscover with renewed conviction, faith in Christ dead and risen for us. This faith, handed down through the centuries by the successors of the Apostles, continues on because the Risen Lord dies no more. He lives in the Church and guides it firmly toward the fulfillment of his eternal design of salvation.

We may all be tempted by the disbelief of Thomas. Suffering, evil, injustice, death, especially when it strikes the innocent such as children who are victims of war and terrorism, of sickness and hunger, does not all of this put our faith to the test? Paradoxically the disbelief of Thomas is most valuable to us in these cases because it helps to purify all false concepts of God and leads us to discover his true face: the face of a God who, in Christ, has taken upon himself the wounds of injured humanity. Thomas has received from the Lord, and has in turn transmitted to the Church, the gift of a faith put to the test by the passion and death of Jesus and confirmed by meeting him risen. His faith was almost dead but was born again thanks to his touching the wounds of Christ, those wounds that the Risen One did not hide but showed, and continues to point out to us in the trials and sufferings of every human being.

By his wounds you have been healed (1 Peter 2:24). This is the message Peter addressed to the early converts. Those wounds that, in the beginning were an obstacle for Thomas' faith, being a sign of Jesus apparent failure, those same wounds have become in his encounter with the Risen One, signs of a victorious love. These wounds that Christ has received for love of us help us to understand who God is and to repeat: My Lord and my God! Only a God who loves us to the extent of taking upon himself our wounds and our pain, especially innocent suffering, is worthy of faith.

How many wounds, how much suffering there is in the world! Natural calamities and human tragedies that cause innumerable victims and enormous material destruction are not lacking. My thoughts go to recent events in Madagascar, in the Solomon Islands, in Latin America and in other regions of the world. I am thinking of the scourge of hunger, of incurable diseases, of terrorism and kidnapping of people, of the thousand faces of violence, which some people attempt to justify in the name of religion, of contempt for life, of the violation of human rights and the exploitation of persons. I look with apprehension at the conditions prevailing in several regions of Africa. In Darfur and in the neighboring countries there is a catastrophic, and sadly to say underestimated, humanitarian situation. In Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo the violence and looting of the past weeks raises fears for the future of the Congolese democratic process and the reconstruction of the country. In Somalia the renewed fighting has driven away the prospect of peace and worsened a regional crisis, especially with regard to the displacement of populations and the traffic of arms. Zimbabwe is in the grip of a grievous crisis and for this reason the Bishops of that country in a recent document indicated prayer and a shared commitment for the common good as the only way forward.

Likewise the population of East Timor stands in need of reconciliation and peace as it prepares to hold important elections. Elsewhere, too, peace is sorely needed: in Sri Lanka only a negotiated solution can put an end to the conflict that causes so much bloodshed; Afghanistan is marked by growing unrest and instability; in the Middle East, besides some signs of hope in the dialogue between Israel and the Palestinian authority, nothing positive comes from Iraq, torn apart by continual slaughter as the civil population flees. In Lebanon the paralysis of the country's political institutions threatens the role that the country is called to play in the Middle East and puts its future seriously in jeopardy. Finally, I cannot forget the difficulties faced daily by the Christian communities and the exodus of Christians from that blessed Land which is the cradle of our faith. I affectionately renew to these populations the expression of my spiritual closeness.

Dear brothers and sisters, through the wounds of the Risen Christ we can see the evils which afflict humanity with the eyes of hope. In fact, by his rising the Lord has not taken away suffering and evil from the world but has vanquished them at their roots by the superabundance of his grace. He has countered the arrogance of evil with the supremacy of his love. He has left us the love that does not fear death, as the way to peace and joy. Even as I have loved you he said to his disciples before his death so you must also love one another (cf. John 13:34).

Brothers and sisters in faith, who are listening to me from every part of the world, Christ is risen and he is alive among us. It is he who is the hope of a better future. As we say with Thomas: My Lord and my God! May we hear again in our hearts the beautiful yet demanding words of the Lord: If any one serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there shall my servant be also; if any one serves me, the Father will honor him (John 12:26). United to him and ready to offer our lives for our brothers (cf. 1 John 3:16), let us become apostles of peace, messengers of a joy that do not fear pain, the joy of the Resurrection. May Mary, Mother of the Risen Christ, obtain for us this Easter gift. Happy Easter to you all.Vatican Publishing House