Bishop Leo’s Easter Message 2015

According to the well-known rhyme, “Two men looked out from prison bars, one saw mud, the other stars.

It all depends on whether you look up or look down.

The second reading of Mass on Easter Sunday urged us to look upwards: “Since you have been brought back to true life with Christ, you must look for the thinks that are in heaven, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.”

The reason we celebrate at Easter is not just because Christ rose from the dead in the distant past, but that we share in his resurrection. As Christians, we already share in the new life of Christ and we look forward in hope to sharing the fullness of Christ’s life in heaven.  As risen people we look upwards; we have hope.

We certainly need hope. In recent months world news has told us of wars and injustice, of unspeakable barbarities committed against people for no other reason than their Christian faith. Closer to home we are aware of families touched by the sudden death of a loved one and by other heart-breaking tragedies. We think of friends burdened by serious illness, of others still suffering the effects of crimes committed against them in the past. In a time of austerity many still struggle to make ends meet. For a lot of  people it is hard to find reasons to hope.

Our faith in the resurrection of Jesus offers us the hope that Christ has overcome the power of evil and even death itself through his own passion, death and resurrection from the dead. His was not an easy victory over sin. His was no cheap grace. It cost him very dearly. In the words of an American Christian pastor,

…salvation was brought not by Jesus’ fist, but by his nail-pierced hands; not by muscle but by love; not by vengeance but by forgiveness; not by force but by sacrifice. Jesus Christ Our Lord surrendered in order that he might win; He destroyed his enemies by dying for them and conquered death by allowing death to conquer Him.

As we continue to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus in the week ahead, may our faith in the risen Lord lead us to experience anew the hope and joy of the Gospel and enable us to share it with others.