As I write this, we are already in that point of the Church’s year which is known as “Holy Week”. Although Christmas tends to be a bigger event in our country, for Christians this week is right at the heart of our faith. The main days are: Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday. On the Thursday we remember the way in which Jesus gives us the example of loving service in the washing of his disciples’ feet. Even the Son of God did not consider himself too high and mighty to attend to people’s needs in a caring way. He also gave his disciples a “New Commandment” by which Christians promise to live by putting love at the centre of everything they do. Good Friday recalls the sacrifice Jesus made for the sake of truth and justice in the face of all opposition. If it were not for Easter and its message of new life, this Friday would be the bleakest of days.The first Easter began with an empty tomb and some very perplexed disciples. It was only later that they began to experience that Jesus was alive and that this was no mere figment of imagination. God is the giver of life and our human story does not end in death. Many who were sceptical about the message of the Resurrection came to believe as they experienced for themselves the life which could not be contained in a tomb. The stone was rolled away from the tomb not just for them but for us also. If we are open to the Easter message then it becomes a new beginning for us too; a source of hope and joy. So Happy Easter! Father Richard.
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