WA’s Bishops give their Easter messages for 2011
Archbishop Barry Hickey
Archbishop of Perth
My dear people
There is no doubt that the whole credibility of our Catholic faith rests on the truth of the Resurrection of Jesus.
If Jesus had not risen the world would have admired him as a great moral leader and acknowledged him as a martyr to truth.
We would have spoken of him in the past tense as a great man who lived in the time of the Roman occupation of Palestine/Israel. Christianity as we know it would not have existed and the Catholic Church would never have started.
I think we all know instinctively that the Resurrection of Jesus changed everything. That is why our churches start to fill from Palm Sunday onwards, and are full even beyond capacity on Easter Sunday. Even those who do not go regularly to Mass know Good Friday and Easter are of the greatest importance.
Let us reflect on their importance over these days of Holy Week and Easter.
The resurrection of Jesus puts the death of Jesus in a completely new light. His death was not simply the death of someone the soldiers considered to be a criminal. It had cosmic dimensions. In dying, Jesus the Innocent One, took on himself the terrible weight of the world’s sins, and allowed them to appear to triumph. His resurrection was the unexpected victory over sin and its consequences, death. If Jesus had not risen, this would not have happened.
The resurrection then is the trumpet call of victory, the glorious sign that evil did not and cannot conquer, and that we all have the hope and assurance that Jesus has freed us, and is with us to help us respond to this amazing sign of his love, and will raise us up on the last day. His resurrection also assures us that Jesus lives, that he is present now, that we can turn to him at any time.
He lives not as some sort of a departed spirit, but his humanity has now been taken up into the Godhead. Jesus has returned to the right hand of his Father. He is present to us in a completely new dimension of existence that we cannot comprehend. He is present to us as God is present to us as he and the Father are One.
All this is heavy going, but we need to think about it to know how absolutely important Easter is for our faith, our hope, our union with Christ and our daily lives.
We are lucky enough to live in a multicultural Australia where all religions are respected. However we should not think that they are all the same. The Christian/Jewish Messiah was entirely unique. No one expected the Messiah to die, far less rise from the dead. Jesus is the unique Saviour and our faith in him is unique.
Let us thank God for giving us such a Saviour and ask God to help us follow him faithfully as the Light of the World.
I wish you all a very Happy and Holy Easter.
Bishop Donald Sproxton
Auxiliary Bishop of Perth
It is just on 70 years since my father was recruited into the special operations unit the 2/2 Commando Squadron.
He and those men with him formed strong, lifelong bonds as they saw action in Timor, New Guinea and New Britain. Among his closest comrades is George Greenhalgh who lives in Maclean in northern New South Wales.
They have maintained an almost daily communication, which has been a major source of mutual support, especially now as they are confronted by very serious health problems.
George recently has had to have both legs amputated and he is making the transition from independent living to aged high care.
Slowly as he recovers, his spirit of resilience is showing through, together with his good humour.
They share with the men and women of their generation those very important values that enabled them to put their hopes and dreams on hold when the world faced another catastrophic war.
They enlisted voluntarily to fight for the liberation of peoples in Europe and Asia, and the defence of their country.
Their readiness to risk everything for freedom reveals a drive that lies within each of us for that which is better and for the transcendent.
Anzac Day falls on Easter Monday this year, which is fortunate, for we will be in the full after-glow of the great celebration of the Resurrection.
As usual, we will remember those who lived the experience of war and we will pray for those who died in the service of their countries for freedom and peace. Our prayer recognise their courage but more importantly it will be made in the faith that Christ has been raised so that we all may share in the Resurrection.
As we have been moving steadily towards Holy Week and the Passover of the Lord, we have followed the conflicts that have broken out in northern Africa and the Persian Gulf.
These popular revolts have been largely against dictators of repressive regimes who have sought to restrict the freedoms of their peoples.
One has to wonder if what is to replace these governments will be any better. Yet the spirit that shows itself again, seeking for something better, is good.
Certainly our prayer this Easter must be for the peaceful resolution of this series of conflicts.
Our search for and abiding communion with God is helped by the common experience of the things in our lives that are larger than ourselves.
It is at times when we have a sense of overwhelming joy, or when we decide to take responsibility for a global issue, or we find within us an unconditional hope beyond all hopelessness that we touch what is transcendent.
St Augustine described his experience of the transcendent, and thus his experience of God, as restlessness. His restlessness of spirit brought him to the truth and to the full acceptance of Jesus Christ.
Easter has the power to re-immerse each of us into the life of God: to put us in touch once again with the God who seeks us.
It can give us the breathing space to look deep within and to remember the experience of God in those moments of exhilarating joy, boundless hope and even restlessness.
The amazing revelation by God in the Easter experience has been that life is not ended but changed.
The act of Christ’s obedience to do the will of the Father meant that he trusted that his life would be saved. The death Jesus suffered on the cross did not bring his extinction, but was to be the Passover to the fullest life.
His invitation is to follow him, by his way. Eternal life is available to all.
What is needed from us is our faith and desire to live according to that faith.
Easter proclaims that we are redeemed and we are given the Spirit of the Risen Christ to work for salvation, as we convert each day and are transformed to become more like Christ.
I wish you all a very happy Easter and I pray that we will all be renewed in faith.
Bishop Justin Bianchini
Bishop of Geraldton
Since the time after the Exodus, the Jews have celebrated the Passover annually. However, the Passover from slavery to freedom through the Red Sea was never far from their minds.
In their prayers, and particularly the wonderful Old Testament Psalms, the Jews recall this great event time and time again. They call to mind, more importantly, the power of God displayed there to show His care and protection of them. The presence of God they saw in the “cloud by day” to hide them from the enemy and the “fire by night” to guide them on their journey in the desert.
They believe that the liberating power of God and His protective and guiding presence continues to be with them and now in their lives.
Our Easter is exactly like that. It is the Passover of Jesus from death to life. It is His rising to life from the suffering and death He endured.
We celebrate this at Easter; however, it is never far from our thoughts and our daily lives.
Each Sunday is a little Easter – not only because of the day but, more importantly, because on that day we, as the Church across the world, gather to celebrate the Eucharist. In this Eucharist, Jesus’ one and only death and resurrection is renewed and becomes present for us again.
Each day is an Easter. There are dyings and risings in our lives, and Jesus is part and parcel of each of them. The Eucharist is celebrated daily in most of our churches and certainly around our dioceses and the world daily.
Some people are able to join in the daily celebration of the Eucharist. Most are not and it is not an essential for Christian living. For the full Christian life, a regular weekly Eucharist is. It is then lived out during the week in the home and in what God has called us to in the world. We draw on that Sunday Eucharist as a real source of strength or fountain of nourishment for the week.
Each year, though, we have the Solemn Celebration of Easter. We go more deeply into this great mystery. The meaning of Easter also becomes clearer for us. Its reality becomes for us more like a guiding light. Easter time is a time when Jesus says something like this to us: “Look, I can pull life out of anything. I can do that with your sins. I can do that with tragedy. I can do it with suffering and death. I can do it even when things happen because of the sins and failings of others”.
Because of Easter, I never need lose hope. I can always put my faith in Jesus. I can respond to situations (even sin and violence) His way and know that He can pull life out of it.
It is a powerful belief. It’s not an abstract belief but one which touches the core of my being.
This risen life of Jesus is deep within me and this is much more than Jesus “just walking with me” in life. Jesus’ liberating power and protective presence is truly within me.
May this powerful belief become more felt and more a reality for us all this Easter.
Bishop Christopher Saunders
Bishop of Broome
As you read the Scriptures after the events of the Passion of Christ and His glorious Resurrection, you cannot help but note the puzzlement that overtakes many of the disciples. They want to believe that the story of Jesus is not over; that there is more to come. But doubt bothers them and continues to surround them, causing hesitation and bewilderment. Only the Spirit that enables and transforms God’s children is able to lift them up and set them on a new pathway to life in the service of God. Only the Spirit confirms in them their faith of Jesus’ Resurrection which promises new life.
Our liturgies and ceremonies as constructed for Holy Week begin with the Institution of the Eucharist, source of our nourishment and heart of our communion with God. Good Friday immerses us in the mystery of suffering and death while at the Great Vigil on Saturday evening the fire bursts into life to dispel the darkness and in holy triumph Christ is once more proclaimed as “our light”.
The Holy Week story contains the entire range of human feelings – joy, celebration, suffering, anger, despair, hope, confusion, doubt and betrayal, but it is love that triumphs in the end. And that is the whole point of why we continue to remember year after year the mystery of Easter. Love has triumphed. Hope is real, not imagined. And God’s mercy is without end. Life is indeed for us the gift God always intended it to be. With joy and humility, in praise and worship, we continually give thanks to God.
In a society remarkably non-religious, like our own in Australia, it is very easy to take on board the holiday syndrome. To be impressed by Easter as a bonus vacation moment designed to break up the monotony of the year. It is very tempting to let slip the faith expression that indeed Easter has always been in the life of the Church and in the life of Christian nations.
If we have been living out the opportunities and challenges of Lent, preparing for the Easter feast, Easter will certainly mean so much for us. The Church has been encouraging us in this penitential season to examine ourselves closely, to discover our strengths and weaknesses, to aspire to turn over a new leaf. Prayer, fasting and Christian almsgiving are the means we have been encouraged to use to set right our relationship with God and our relationship with our fellow human beings. To attend more to public prayers and devotions such as the Stations of the Cross has been a useful exercise but the call to prayer is also a call to private prayer and meditation. Fasting has heightened our awareness and focused our attention on what Jesus Christ has done for us.
Sadly, in our world, too many people continue to be bewildered and puzzled about who they are and what the purpose of life might be for them. They want the good stories to continue but they cannot comprehend the joy of the Cross or the wonder of Christ’s passion. Nor can they comprehend that only the Holy Spirit can enkindle the fire of our love for God and strengthen our faith in Him. Our openness to this gift of the Spirit, which flows from the grace of Easter, is the difference between our reaching our full potential as humans or our remaining numbed to the possibility of a fullness of humanity as God has intended.
May the enduring love of God made present to us through the joy of the first Easter, continue to fill your hearts with hope and love. And may you be to the world, through the power of the Holy Spirit, a witness to God’s promise of everlasting life.
Bishop Gerard Holohan
Bishop of Bunbury
A number of people have expressed surprise that our new Cathedral is larger than the old one. Comments have ranged from: ‘The new cathedral reflects faith that the numbers going to church will grow again’ to ‘The size of the new cathedral is an exercise in denial: religious practice is dying.’
The second view does not understand Easter.
The real picture
It is true that religious practice currently is in a phase of decline in affluent countries. Jesus warned that the ‘lure of riches’ would choke people’s faith in the Parable of the Sower. However, we know from our 2000 years of Church history that this is not the first time such a phase has been experienced in a portion of the Church. Nor will it be the last. The real picture is that decline in religious practice in Australia is one of a range of symptoms that seem to reflect a broader social trend. There are other examples – the breakdown in married and family life: the growth in loneliness, particularly in the younger generation: the confusion in people about themselves, their direction in life and their relationships.
Then there is the decline in social involvement, particularly among younger people. Sports clubs struggle to make up teams; organisations which have contributed enormously to society in the past, such as Lions, Rotary and the Country Women’s Association, struggle to find members under sixty; community service groups increasingly find ‘it is the same people who do everything’. The Church is not immune from these symptoms for it is part of society. We too see declining numbers in our worship and in our organisations.
What does all this mean?
Such trends reflect a society that is moving away from satisfying the basic needs of the human heart. Our basic yearnings for love, the desire for committed relationships, the yearning for true happiness – and for God – are a few examples. In the words St Augustine wrote so long ago: ‘You made our hearts for yourself, O Lord, and they cannot rest until they rest in you’.
And does not history show that societies which fail to satisfy the needs of the human heart either fragment gradually, or renew themselves by returning to the basic values and practices that satisfying these needs? This includes religious values and practice. There are many signs of troubled hearts in our society. Drugs and other addictions, such as those to alcohol, sex and gambling; growing violence and vandalism; the accelerating need for psychologists and counsellors; young people finding it easier to relate through Facebook and Twitter, rather than to relate in face to face relationships; the growth in suicides by 15-25 year olds – these are a few examples.
In our own diocesan Catholic schools, the number of psychologists has almost doubled this year because of the needs of an increasing percentage of troubled students. There are those who suggest that our society is ‘enlightened’ and ‘advanced’ – but how can increasing unhappiness reflect either enlightenment or advancement?
What does it say about our society that so many young people imagine the only real solution to their personal problems is to try to escape reality through drugs or worse?
‘Peace Be With You’
Christ’s Easter greeting was ‘peace be with you’ [John 20:20, 26]. It is his peace that satisfies the human heart. A single unhappy human heart is not the desire or intention of God.
Christ’s peace brings deep inner harmony. This harmony grows with the deepening personal relationship with God Jesus makes possible. It is a deep peace that remains, even when we experience emotional turmoil and conflicts. It is a peace we can tap into to strengthen us in times of personal crisis, illness and difficulties.
Growing in Christ’s peace
Jesus Christ left a number of ways for us to deepen in our relationships with God through him, and to grow in his peace. The Easter sacraments are prime examples.
Through Baptism, Christ frees us from original sin. This is the root cause of all human weaknesses, failings and temptations to do wrong. It is also the root cause of all unhappiness and loss of personal peace.
Personal weaknesses, failing and temptations to do wrong decline as the influence of the divine grows within us. Those who repent and believe grow in freedom from selfishness, greed, judgementalness and other causes of personal, relationship and other levels of unhappiness.
Through Baptism, Christ shares with us his own life, ‘eternal life’ or the life of God. We share in his divine nature. We are empowered to love, to forgive and to live Christ’s ideals – which lead to peace.
We are empowered to live his ideals as wives and husbands, as family members and friends, as members of our societies. The power of Baptism grows in us as we nourish it in the ways Jesus taught – particularly through daily prayer about our lives and the Eucharist.
Through the Eucharist, Christ offers us guidance for our lives, healing and forgiveness, strength against temptations and power to live as he taught. He nourishes the spiritual gifts we received through Baptism and Confirmation so that the influence of the divine grows in us. Through Reconciliation, Christ restores our personal relationships with God. As a result, inner harmony grows, as does harmony in our relationships.
Let us proclaim Christ’s peace
Christians are called to share in the mission of Christ to the world. In our troubled age, we need to help family members and friends, work colleagues and fellow students, acquaintances and sports lovers to know that Christ’s is another way – the way that leads to true peace and which satisfies of the needs of the human heart.
Let us help them to appreciate how they can draw on Christ’s peace in a troubled society – particularly through the Easter sacraments.
As heart-felt discontent continues to grow in our society, many will yearn for another way, the way of Christ Our new cathedral is a sign of God’s desire to satisfy the needs of the human heart, including that for inner peace.
It is a sign of hope that our society will return to the means through which Christ taught that God will do so.