“Our hope is neither a concept, nor a feeling, nor a mobile phone, nor abundant riches: no! Our hope is a Person, it is the Lord Jesus Whom we know is alive and present in us and in our brothers and sisters, because Christ is risen”. Pope Francis said this at today’s general audience dedicated to hope as it is presented in the first Letter of St Peter. “Christ is truly risen, and this is a wonderful greeting for us to share on Easter days”, Pope Francis said off the cuff. “Christ is risen, Christ is risen: let us remember that Christ is risen, He is alive and dwells in each one of us”. “Instead of saying good morning, good evening – Pope Francis continued off the cuff –, the Slavonic peoples greet one another by saying this on Easter days: Christ is risen, and they are happy to say that. This is the good morning and the good evening they say to one another: Christ is risen!”. “The first letter of the apostle Peter is extremely powerful!”, the Pope began: “It gives us great consolation and peace, showing us that the Lord is always by our side and never abandons us, especially in the most critical and difficult moments in our life”. “But what is the secret of this Letter?”, the Pope asked the faithful, speaking always off the cuff: “I know today you will take the New Testament, look for the first Letter of St Peter, and read it slowly to understand the secret and the power of this letter”. “The secret lies in the fact that this document plunges its roots directly into Easter, into the very core of the mystery we are about to celebrate, making us perceive all the light and joy that flow from Christ’s Death and Resurrection”, Pope Francis went on to explain: “This is why St Peter strongly invites us to reverence Him in our hearts. It is there that the Lord has made his dwelling on the day of our Baptism, and from there, He continues to renew ourselves and our lives, filling us with His love and the fullness of His Spirit. And that is why the Apostle urges us to account for the hope that is in us”.