Easter messages

Essentially a story of reconciliation

- Most Rev. Oswald Gomis, Archbishop of Colombo

The feast of Easter is the most important feast in the liturgical calendar. All other liturgical feasts, including Christmas, are focused towards this and get their meaning from Easter. St. Paul put this succinctly when he wrote that “If Christ has not been raised then our preaching is in vain, and your faith is in vain” (1 Cor 15:14)

In this feast we commemorate Our Lord’s rising from the dead. And this is the basic tenet of our faith.

While we believe in the fact that Christ rose from the dead we also see that his suffering and death were the price He had to pay for his bold and courageous proclamation of the truth. All those who were against him were those who had their own ambitions and agendas for wealth and power.

They were all who sought their own selfish ends and not the truth or the Kingdom values. But all their conspiracies failed when finally their own act of treachery and murder resulted in the Lord’s glorious resurrection. If Christ had not been killed he would not have risen from the dead!

This same scene is enacted in our own lives especially when we uphold moral standards and work for what is true, just and right. In the present context of our society we see a blatant rejection of moral and ethical values and might, being glorified as right.

Undoubtedly this is a moment of challenge for all those who call themselves Christians and profess to be disciples of Jesus Christ. It calls for a strong commitment on their part to suffer the agony as Christ did, so that the truth may ultimately and surely triumph.

This year again the feast of Easter and the Sinhala and Tamil New Year come at a time when the nation is engaged in a war that is causing the death of hundreds of people and injuring thousands of others in our own native land.

Much as we engage in religious and national celebrations we cannot forget this stark reality that, besides its human carnage, is causing serious economic and moral damage to our people. The serious destruction of human life and the collapse of the law and order situation should attract the attention of everyone with an iota of love for the country.

In the backdrop of this unfortunate situation the forthcoming feast of Easter and the Sinhala/Tamil New Year should be exploited to the full to bring in the element of reconciliation and peace which both these celebrations signify.

The story of Easter is a story of Christ’s passion death and resurrection. In the context of all these events it becomes essentially a story of reconciliation. It is the story of reconciliation between God and man, between the offender and the offended.

And this reconciliation is brought about by pardon and forgiveness. Christ’s victory over death is not a result of an attitude of “an eye for an eye, or a tooth for a tooth”.

Rather it is the far more divine and humane attitude of “Forgive them for they do not know what they do.”

The Sinhala/Tamil New Year is similarly a moment of social integration when people return to each other to restore old friendships seeking forgiveness or granting pardon with a commitment to begin new lives.

In the light of the above we should explore every possibility of making these two celebrations instruments of promoting reconciliation and peace. It is important for us to remember that war, however successfully carried out, is not the final answer to the problems we face.

We need to foster goodwill, trust and confidence among all the people in this country and make every group feel that Sri Lanka is the happy home of every citizen who has a right to live here.

The more we emphasise our differences the greater will be our division. And division will bring us defeat as has been effectively proved at the arrival of the Portuguese, the Dutch and the British.

It is my firm hope that Easter will surface the sentiment of forgiveness and reconciliation. Similarly may the New Year celebrations help foster ethnic harmony so that we will all be one family living in peace and moving progressively towards prosperity.

Alleluia! May the blessings of the Risen Christ be yours in abundance.

We need to abide by the Christian principles

- Catholic Bishops’ Conference in Sri Lanka

The celebration of the Paschal Mystery has been the first feast of the Church. The Christian Community experiencing the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth proclaimed him as Lord and Saviour. We read of this most fundamental facet of Christian faith in the words of Saint Peter.

“This Jesus God raised up, and of that all of us are witnesses”..... Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified” (Acts 2: 32, 36). Saint Paul, the first writer in the New Testament, underlines this most basic element of Christian Faith when he writes: “For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures” and Paul who speaks with such realism reiterates, “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile” (1 Cor. 15: 3, 17).

The passion, death and resurrection, therefore, are no accidents. They are matters of prime importance to Christian Faith and are events that have taken place according to the planning and the foreknowledge of God in keeping with the progressive revelation of the sacred scriptures.

In this year 2008, we celebrate the events of the Paschal Mystery amidst a particular set of socio-political and economic circumstances. Today, human life appears to be so devalued as in no other context of Sri Lankan history. People go about their day-to-day tasks with so much fear and anxiety.

There does not seem to be an end to the violence that is ravaging the country. Though true and lasting peace appears still to be a far cry, it is yet the greatest desire of all people of goodwill. Furthermore, the ever increasing cost of living adds to the already existing burdens of the ordinary person.

The gap between those who have, and those who do not, is widening everyday. Life has become almost unbearable to the person who earns his living on a daily basis. The interpretations given to the economic circumstances that overwhelm us do not resolve the economic burden of the ordinary citizen of this country.

The worst affected are the poorer sectors of the population and the children. We hasten to add that communal feeling is increasingly getting entrenched which sadly fuels divisiveness. These are the circumstances in the midst of which we proclaim once again the hope which Jesus the Risen Lord and Saviour brings us.

“Peace be with you!” was the first greeting of the Risen Saviour who gave His life that others may live. Christian Faith always invites us to be men and women of hope and never give into despair since God’s love is more powerful than all hell combined.

However, we need to be engaged in what is within human reach. Whatever the circumstances are, we need to abide by the Christian principles and the values of the Gospel; we need to uphold the value of the life of every human being “made in the image and likeness of God” (Genesis 1: 27). We need to think and act with the realistic awareness that violence and war do not lead to true and lasting peace but to untold misery and destruction.

We recall the words of the late Pope John Paul II, of revered memory, “Violence contradicts what it claims to defend” and thus violence is no means to achieve peace. We reiterate that true and lasting peace and true reconciliation are achieved only at the table of dialogue and negotiation, however difficult and arduous it might be.

Thus let us once again choose to get closer to Jesus the Risen Saviour and choose to live and abide by the basic Christian principles and the values of the Gospel.

We wish all our faithful and all people of Goodwill a joyful feast of Easter full of hope and God’s blessings.

Liberation from evil tendencies

- Rt Revd Duleep de Chickera, Bishop of Colombo

Easter is the Christian festival that celebrates the Rising of Christ after His death. This historic event known as the Resurrection, declares the defeat of all evil forces of greed, violence and destruction that culminated in the death of Christ, and proclaims a higher plane of life in which there is liberation from these evil tendencies.

Consequently the celebration of Easter in our beloved Sri Lanka today, ravaged, and torn apart by the ruthless greed and violent machinations of evil persons, brings us hope.

Because Christ has been raised from the dead, all that degrades, dehumanises and destroys the dignity of human life around us will not last.

And because Christ has been raised from the dead, a new more abundant life of peace, justice and integration is available for all.

But for this to happen we are called to renounce evil in its many forms and affirm life in its highest God intended form.

Renunciation and affirmation are more than words; they comprise a lifestyle that strives in rhythm to create and sustain an alternative pro-life socio-political culture.

So, Easter is an invitation to renounce lawlessness and affirm order, renounce killings and affirm life, renounce poverty and affirm justice, renounce violence and affirm dialogue, renounce hypocrisy and affirm integrity, renounce communalism and affirm pluralism, renounce authoritarianism and affirm dissent, renounce intimidation and affirm growth, renounce ridicule and affirm respect, renounce false propaganda and affirm truth, renounce arrogance and affirm humility, renounce terrorism and affirm freedom, renounce accumulation and affirm distribution, renounce exploitation and affirm empowerment, renounce corruption and affirm transparency, renounce selfishness and affirm sharing, renounce revenge and affirm forgiveness, May this Easter hope remind us that the triumph of evil is at the most only temporary.

May this Easter courage reveal to us all that all who deceive, manipulate and terrorise the people and exploit the poor, will not prevail.

May this Easter integrity teach us all that the truth will one day set us free,

May this Easter love transform us one and all to embrace our enemies and convert them into brothers and sisters through repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation.

And may this Easter faith lead us all from death to life and darkness to light. With Easter Greetings, Peace and Blessings to all our people.