16.04.2014
Easter Message from the Archbishop of Dublin
Easter Day gives us one of the most beautiful expressions of joy and gladness that there is in the Christian tradition. Resurrection is not only something done to Jesus and by Jesus, it is also a new gift given by God to the creation as we make the move from old life through death in Christ to new life with Christ. And so we seek to come to terms with all that is new in life itself. Every year we are given the opportunity to come through the sorrow and the sadness of Holy Week, the betrayal and the bitterness of The Passion to the triumph of life over death in The Resurrection.
Sunday is, therefore, a special day. Every Sunday is a celebration of resurrection. It is for this reason that Sunday is so life–giving and life–affirming in the Christian life and in the way of following Jesus in our own daily lives. We are not required to be perfect but we are asked to follow. We are not expected to be better than everyone else but we are asked to show the way. We are indeed asked to celebrate Sunday and not just to hope that somebody else is doing it while we are not bothering. And so being a Christian today is what it has always been: service and leadership.
These are qualities and characteristics that cannot exist independent of one another. They need to work together if we are to be healthy people and healthy communities. They make sense as mirror images and as two sides of the one coin. Their relationship is instinctive: the Jesus who died for us also rose for us. Their expression is equally instinctive: the same Jesus did not leave his friends comfortless but returned to them in the days after Easter to equip them for service and for leadership. Their offering to the world of our day lies in our hands and on our lips: the same Jesus gives us the courage and the compassion to be his ambassadors of peace every day of the week.
Every Sunday is an Easter on which we celebrate the victory of life over death, however hard this may seem and however unlikely this may look to us at any given time. It is God’s precious gift.
I wish each and all of you a very Happy Easter.
Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia! Alleluia!
+Michael