CITY CELEBRATES CORNERSTONE OF CHRISTIAN FAITH
The resurrection of Jesus, which forms the cornerstone of Christianity, will be celebrated Sunday at Easter services throughout Calgary.
Not only does Easter provide Christians with a chance to celebrate their faith; it also provides the promise of new life and hope when dealing with the problems of modern society, say local religious leaders.
Easter vigil services this evening, coupled with a multitude of celebratory masses and gatherings on Sunday, mark the end of the busy week in the lives of Christian clergy of almost all faiths in the city.
But it is a labour of love and devotion, says Calgary Bishop William McGrattan, who will be celebrating his second Easter as head of the Catholic Church in the Calgary diocese.
McGrattan admits last year he was a little nervous, having only arrived to take up his post in the city a few months earlier. This year, however, he expects to enjoy all the services in a somewhat more relaxed manner now that he is fully settled and at home in Calgary.
“I am looking forward to it,” he says. “The first year everything was new, but now there’s a sense of renewal. There is no feeling of anxiety now in the second year and I am looking forward to joining in the celebrations.”
He especially looks forward to the rites of baptism carried out among those people who are choosing Easter as a time to join the Catholic Church.
“As I celebrate each Easter, I am struck by the fact that it is also a time in which we celebrate the gift of baptism,” he says. “We have some who have expressed the desire to join the Church so the Easter vigil and Easter Sunday are often celebrations where we have that additional dimension of the sacrament of baptism celebrated and received.”
He adds that the gift of the resurrection of Jesus is the embodiment of hope that spreads beyond the purely religious aspect.
“We often are questioning our present circumstances and seeing that there is a certain struggle or cross in front of us,” says McGrattan. “I think as Christians we always have that ability to look beyond and have that sense of hope, that sense of vision, and from this situation there can be the promise of new life and opportunity. I think the resurrection can often be a very powerful lived experience for many people at this time of year.”
Gregory Kerr-Wilson, the Anglican Archbishop in Calgary, echoes the viewpoint.
“For Anglicans, it is exactly the same as for Christians as a whole, and that it is simply the basic starting point,” he says. “Jesus is the reincarnation of God and shows us God truly and fully, not only in his person but also in what he does.
“In his death and resurrection, we have God’s way of creating a path by which our brokenness is healed and by which we come into a full life in relationship to God. For us as Christians Easter is the core of our faith.”
While many people think of Christmas as the basis of Christian faith, “from the point of view of history, from scripture and from theology, it is Good Friday and Easter
Jesus is with us even in the darkness of death and God is able to bring new life in the midst of all of that.