EASTER MESSAGES FROM CHURCH LEADERS ‘It’sgoodtobeaware ofthelightsaboutus...’
IN the Gospel of Matthew, for this coming Easter Sunday, the first words of the Angel to the women of Jerusalem are ones of reassurance, new life, direction and fulfilled hope:
‘ There is no need for you to be afraid. I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said he would... He has risen from the dead and now he is going before you to Galilee; it is there you will see him.’
In these very clear words, the time of grief and sorrow were declared over for the Messiah’s followers; the days of anxiety and loss for the disciples of Christ were finished.
More than was imaginable - or dared hope for - had happened, the time of testing and torment were over, resurrection had occurred, nothing was lost, all was better than had even been hither, new life, a new day, an eternal one and open to all.
Easter Sunday 2020 bears witness to this abiding reality as it has for centuries. Christ is risen, Alleluia, Alleluia.
That said, the mood music is altogether different this Easter Sunday worldwide.
It is true, we are an Easter people, but is Alleluia our song this year?
Fever and death, at home and abroad, rising numbers infected and succumbing - the stories of loved ones in danger and loved ones lost - the international standstill in which we all experience helplessness - uncertainty is mixed with anxiety - sinking feelings of an extended Good Friday and Holy Saturday - surely a different Easter, a difficult time all round.
This Easter, we are asked to isolate as an act of love and of responsibility. We are aware of issues of loneliness and of unease as distance is respected and required. Much of the road has yet to be walked, nobody is immune to contracting the coronavirus, we are all charges with minimising the danger of carrying it to others.
In the darkness of this time, it’s good to be aware of the lights that are about us - the caring medical people and their assistants in our hospitals; the public officials who discern the best measures and the army of volunteers who constitute ‘community response’; suppliers, drivers, shop assistants and stewards; first responders and suppliers of vital services working from home; parents learning to act as school teachers; thoughtful people who make the warm phone calls to friends and neighbours, the list is endless.
As we celebrate an Easter Sunday different in feel and texture this year, let us remember that we do not celebrate a different Easter in essence or in fact.
At the heart of Easter lies resurrection for the dead, consolation for the grieving, true meaning for those who respond, and hope for those who suffer - a way forward to Galilee for us all!
I would like to leave you with words that I believe are important ones for this time as we continue our journey of trial and of testing. They are simple words, but profound ones:
‘Patience with self is hope Patience with others is love Patience with God is faith.’
- Fr Tomás Halík
May the peace of the risen Christ come upon you and upon those you love. May the power of the risen Christ continue to strengthen those charged with our safety and our care.
And may the consolation of the risen Christ comfort those who grieve and who struggle at this time.
Denis Brennan Bishop of Ferns
WE celebrate the final week of Jesus’ life on earth from Palm Sunday to Easter calling it Easter week.
On Palm Sunday, we celebrate with the children and adults who waved palm branches while Jesus rode on a donkey into Jerusalem, a completely different kind of King. In many of our churches, palm crosses are distributed to be taken home and placed somewhere prominent as a reminder of this special day.
On Maundy or Holy Thursday, we celebrate the Last Supper which Jesus held with His disciples. At the end of the Sacrament, some churches invite pre-selected members to come forward to have their feet washed by the Minster or Priest as a reminder that we are to serve each other, to put others before self. In other countries, I’ve heard that after the Sacrament altars are stripped of their hangings to remind us of Jesus striped of his clothes by the mocking Roman soldiers, before they scourged Him.
Prisoners to be executed by the Romans were made to walk to their place of execution to serve as an example to others. Misbehave and this too will be your fate. If you visit Jerusalem nowadays, you can walk along the Via Dolorosa, a medieval route which allows pilgrims follow Jesus on his way from his trial carrying that heavy cross to his place of execution at Calvary outside the walls of the city.
The roads of Jerusalem are narrower now that they were in Jesus’ day. Even then there were busy shopping streets, and the shops would have encroached on the road until only a narrow pathway remained. Just imagine Jesus, the Son of God in great pain from the scourging he received, walking along, listening to the cat-calling of the crowds lining the street, carrying a heavy cross to his death.
Mark chapter 8 recounts that Peter affirmed his faith in Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God after which Jesus had predicted his death to his disciples. That He would have to suffer many things, be rejected by the Elders, the Chief Priests and the Teachers of the Law, that He would be killed and after three days rise again. Jesus followed this by saying “whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” (Mark 8:34)
Good Friday is for many a day of darkness and great pain. ‘Good’ what a strange name to give the day associated the awful pain in which Jesus died on the cross, but on that day we celebrate that our forgiveness and salvation was bought for us by Jesus by his death. On
Good Friday, the veil of the Temple was torn in two and we were given access to the Holy of Holies, we were given access to the forgiveness of our Heavenly Father.
The Priests in the temple continually offered sacrifice to God atoning for the sin of the people. Jesus, the Greatest and last High Priest atoned for our sin once by his death on the cross. Jesus died for you, because He loves you, and wants you to live with Him forever.
We are currently enduring very dark and frightening times. Covid-19 has taken over our lives, homes, communities and indeed the whole world. We hear news reports that the death toll is rising and our Taoiseach has called on us to stay in our homes. Our lives are turned upside down and inside out. Life as we know it will never be the same again.
This helps us to imagine how the disciples must have felt on Good Friday. Surely they recalled arriving in Jerusalem a few days earlier. How could it have ended like this? Had it all been in vain? Were they next? In their panic, they forgot that Jesus said He would have to die and that after three days He would rise again.
We have the gift of enlightenment through the work of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us. We are going through dark times. We know that God is with us, walking beside us as we carry our individual cross, be it fear, pain, bereavement or anxiety. We know Jesus rose again, through which we have the greatest comfort, the gift of Hope.
In words of Bill and Gloria Gaither, ‘God sent His son, they called Him Jesus He came to love, heal and forgive , He lived and died to buy my pardon, An empty grave is there to prove my saviour lives. Because He lives, I can face tomorrow. Because He lives, all fear is gone Because I know He holds the future And life is worth the living, just because He lives.’
May The Risen Christ fill your heart with Joy, bring you new hope and bless you with peace. Amen.