Archbishop's Easter Message 2021

Constant change is part of life. Some changes are big and powerful and take place rapidly; others are small and slow and almost imperceptible. Some are expected; others unexpected. Some are feared. Others cause rejoicing.

Climate change affects the entire planet and the whole of life; convalescence above all concerns the individual. 

There is no life without change. Between life and death are a myriad of things that do not remain the same. Photographs, for example, are windows to the past that testify to the relentless power of change.

No photo exists of the events of Easter. It is the biblical accounts of Jesus’s resurrection and the miracle of the empty tomb that testify to its change. The events of a couple of days previously at Golgotha had been bleak and without consolation. The death of Jesus seemed to wipe away all the good and precious things his followers had experienced. The meaningless of it all felt overwhelming. Yet this was not the end.

The change expressed by the empty tomb – the resurrection of Jesus – was powerful and far-reaching. We still celebrate Easter, because it is a change affects this world. Thanks to what happened on Easter morning, darkness becomes light over and over again, fear becomes courage, despair becomes hope, and death becomes life.

Easter invites us to participate in this change towards the light, both in ourselves and in the world. Because death is defeated, reality takes on a very special hue – that of eternity.

“But the angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said.’” (Matt. 28.5–6)

I wish you a joyful Easter!