ARCHBISHOP TIMOTHY COSTELLOE 2023 EASTER MESSAGE
Dear brothers and sisters, Once again this year, the joy of Easter rings out with the cry: Christ is risen! This is the source of our hope, the unshakeable conviction of our faith, and the inspiration for our determination to bring the beauty and promise of our faith to anyone who will listen. It is a message which our society needs desperately. So do not be afraid, in whatever ways you can, to share this good news with others.
In the end, of course, this message of hope is an extraordinary confirmation that all that Jesus taught about God – about God’s merciful love, God’s offer of healing and liberation from sin, of God’s infinite patience with us as we travel the journey of our lives – all this is true. When the disciples of Jesus, who had come to know, to love and to trust Him, were confronted by the terrible sight of His dead body on the cross, they
must have begun to doubt what they had previously come to believe: that God really was as Jesus said He was. The death of Jesus must have been, at least for some of them, the death of their faith. But that faith was born again in the risen Christ, and they were transformed from people ruled by fear and overcome by disappointment to people who were filled, through the gift of God’s Spirit, with new hope and a courage that enabled them to be fearless witnesses to the God whom Jesus had revealed to them.
Like those first disciples we, too, can easily be overcome by fear and by discouragement. At this particular time many of you who are listening to me may yourselves be in this situation. Although the worst seems to be behind us, the Covid-19 virus is still present in our community and its effects are still being felt. Rising interest rates are
putting great pressure on many families and the uncertainty and insecurity this brings can be very hard to bear. Homelessness in our seemingly affluent society seems to be increasing, leaving many people vulnerable to neglect and even violence.
As we look around the world we remember that it is more than a year since Russia invaded Ukraine, and we are conscious of the terrible suffering this war is inflicting on so many. Recently Pope Francis, commenting on this, implored us to “open our eyes to the world; the whole world is at war!” He mentioned ongoing conflicts in some parts of the African continent, in Syria, Yemen, Myanmar, Latin America, and Ukraine and asked, “Will humanity have the courage, the strength, or even the opportunity to turn back?”
BISHOP DON SPROXTON 2023 EASTER MESSAGE:
EASTER A TIME TO HOPE IN THE LORD
The celebration of Easter touches something very deep in most human beings, both those who are not especially religious and those who are.
It is the hope that joy is more enduring than sorrow, that love is stronger than hatred, and that life is more powerful than death. For many this at times seems like a very fragile hope, one to which we cling in the face of evidence to the contrary.
As we consider the conflicts and suffering which confront us in so many parts of the world, the very idea of the triumph of life and love over death and hatred might seem to be an impossible dream beyond our grasp.
The qualities and attitudes of mind and heart which marked every
moment of Jesus’ life and which led him, courageously, to his death – qualities which we as his disciples are called to keep alive in our world today - might themselves seem merely the stuff of dreams with no connection to reality.
And yet, precisely because the attitudes of Jesus – simplicity, compassion, self-forgetfulness, forgiveness, humility – are so profoundly human, we must believe that they can be a part of the real world, not just part of an imaginary world.
For some, indeed, it is literally a "hope against hope" when everything we see around us, or within us, tells us that there is no reason to hope, and yet we still do.
To lose hope altogether, and to give up on life, is surely one of the
saddest fates than can befall any human being. And yet, it seems, there is a spreading hopelessness, an emptiness, in our society which should concern us.
Christians believe it is God who creates this deep hope within us. We also believe that God intends to see that hope fulfilled. The belief in the raising of Jesus from the dead is the ground of Christian hope and the source of our confidence in God's love.
The story of the crucified and risen Jesus is the story of one who brought sight to the blind, food to the hungry, forgiveness to the repentant, and hope to the hopeless.
The painting Jesus is nailed to the cross in church St Johann der Evangelist Church by Karl Geiger (1876), in Vienna, Australia. The story of the crucified and risen Jesus, says Auxiliary Bishop Don Sproxton, is the story of one who brought sight to the blind, food to the hungry, forgiveness to the repentant, and hope to the hopeless. PHOTO: ADOBE.
BISHOP GERARD HOLOHAN 2023 EASTER MESSAGE: AS WE DRAW UPON
HIS POWER, WE ARE STRENGTHENED IN THE FACE OF
CHALLENGES,
SUFFERINGS AND ADVERSITY
Easter celebrates the full revelation of the divine power of the Risen Jesus, a power he offers each of us for our lives.
St Paul proclaimed that nothing else in life compares with coming ‘to know Christ and the power of his resurrection’.
As we place before the Risen Jesus our life struggles and our temptations to sin, his power strengthens; our confusions, we find guidance; our griefs, consolation; our hurts, healing. As we draw upon his power, we are strengthened in the face of challenges, sufferings and adversity. We are empowered increasingly to live his teachings, especially those we find really difficult.
We celebrate that the Risen Jesus is not just a historical figure whom we can ‘know about’. He is a Person we can deepen in relationship with and actually ‘know’ more intimately. We grow to know him through experiences of his power in our daily lives.
It is a power which brings peace into our hearts and even deep joy as we offer sufferings in love for others.
Being greater even than death, the power of Christ’s resurrection is greater than any lesser human weakness or limitation. It is greater than sin.
It can change our personalities so that we become more Christ-like. We grow in the divine life and love Jesus shared through the Spirit when we received Baptism, the Easter sacrament.
Our marriages and family lives, our friendships, work and other relationships can improve as we grow in our capacity to express Christ-like love, understanding, forgiveness, resilience, patience and compassion. Drawing upon Christ’s power for our lives
In the gospels, we read of people approaching Jesus personally to seek his power for their lives. So people across the earth could do so in the future until the end of the world, Jesus instituted the sacraments for the same purpose. We can draw upon his power through the different gifts the Risen Jesus gives through the Spirit as we go to him to seek them. The sacraments, therefore, are the
primary means Jesus gave his Church for drawing upon his resurrection power for our daily lives. Each Sacrament offers us particular gifts which relate to different life needs. Through the Sacrament of Matrimony, for example, for the Risen Jesus is present with husband and wife always.
As couples share with him in prayer their relationships and families, they can experience their love for each other being purified. Christ strengthens them ‘to take up their crosses, to rise again after they have fallen, to forgive one another, to be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ, and to love one another with supernatural, tender and fruitful love’.
If a married couple separate, the Risen Jesus does not desert them. He helps them to remain faithful to their vows, as well as sustains them as they try to work out their future lives, especially in relation to their children.
The sacraments, says Bishop Holohan, are the primary means Jesus gave his Church for drawing upon his resurrection power for our daily lives.
PHOTO: JAMIE O'BRIEN.
BISHOP MICHAEL MORRISSEY 2023 EASTER
MESSAGE: I HAVE SEEN PEOPLE’S FAITH, JOY, HOPE AND DEEP CONNECTION WITH THEIR RISEN LORD
“Filled with awe and great joy, the women came quickly away from the tomb and ran to tell the disciples”. Mt 28:8 “He has risen from the dead and now is going before you to Galilee, it is there you will see him”. These words spoken by the angel of the Lord in Matthew’s Gospel for the Easter Vigil Mass, immediately scattered the darkness of despair for the women coming to visit the Jesus’ tomb.
They were filled with awe and great joy, and ran to their friends, the disciples.
On their way, Jesus appeared to them and gave them instructions to give to the disciples. They all
had seen him die on the cross in the dark events of Good Friday, but now they were joyful messengers of a new reality. ‘O truly blessed night, when things of heaven are wed to those of earth, and divine to the human’. (Exsultet) From total despair to overwhelming joy, the women became the first missionary disciples!
In reflecting on this, I thought of all I have seen and witnessed over the past year in the small and varied communities of faith, in both the Dioceses of Geraldton and Broome, scattered throughout this vast part of Western Australia.
I have seen people’s faith, joy, hope and deep connection with their
risen Lord, despite circumstances and situations often challenging, with no easy answers.
I have seen many making decisions and choices based on their deep relationship with Jesus.
I have witnessed also living saints in these communities, supporting one another to remain people of hope and joy. These are indeed missionary disciples, “…available to answer His call and to live united to the Lord in the most common daily things - work, meeting other people, our daily duties, the chance events of each day - allowing ourselves to be guided always by the Holy Spirit.”
Bishop Michael Morrissey blesses the new bells for the Geraldton Cathedral in 2019. PHOTO: SUPPLIED.