Easter renews us

Dear Friends,

Often these days the news is bad and the realities of life are depressing and sometimes overwhelming. But the news of Easter is good and the reality of Easter is uplifting and life-giving. Listen again to this good news, first announced to the women who had gone on that first Easter morning to the tomb where the body of Jesus was buried: "Why do you seek the living one among the dead? He is not here, he has been raised up". This good news, the news that Jesus Christ was dead but now lives triumphantly and forever, causes us to be really thankful to God for this undeserved blessing. Christ died, yet He lives forever! Like Peter and the other apostles, we are called to be witnesses to the reality that is at the heart of the good news of Easter - Christ's victory over eternal death, sin and suffering. We witness by the way we encounter evil, sinfulness, suffering and human death: with truth, justice, mercy, forgiveness, hope and love. At times, we
may feel discouraged, helpless or exhausted, but we must never give up, because Jesus Christ Our Lord and Redeemer, lives forever.

As we celebrate Easter Season let us admit that all of us Christians are not perfect nor do we have a perfect church …it never was… and it never will be. We come together precisely because we are not perfect. The first thing we do at Mass is acknowledge our sinfulness and ask the Lord for his mercy. This means that we are sinners who have come together because we believe in the Lord's mercy. And the prayer we say after the Our Father, says it all: "Lord Jesus Christ, you said to your apostles: I leave you my peace. My peace I give you. Look not on our sins but on the faith of your Church, and grant us peace." I know that there are many hurtful things that have happened in our lives, in the Church and in our own communities.

Regardless of our past experiences, as we celebrate this glorious feast of Easter, let us all resolve to stand by the crucified yet Risen Jesus Christ, so that we will be united to Him, sharing His Death and Resurrection. Let the good news of this Easter day fill us with true Christian hope and give us new life. Jesus Christ has died, but now He has risen to new and unending life! To this good news, let us respond with joyous Alleluias. Even more, let us respond with our renewed commitment to live our baptismal promises, witnessing to the power of Christ's victory over evil, sin and death. With our efforts to root out evil and sin and to live as Christ taught us, we can continue to go about doing good, for the glory of God and the salvation of the world.

Here at my end I have renewed my commitment to His cause. This will mean revisiting my baptismal and priestly commitments and taking up responsibilities to be involved in seminary formation, school education, peace building programmes, ecumenical activities, media ministry and identifying the true needs of the community and devising goals and strategies to effectively meet these needs. Together with many of you I have travelled and have the will to travel in future with the Risen Lord by His Grace to provide the programs and activities that will ensure that we continue to be a vibrant faith community that worships God faithfully and reaches out to those in need.

My prayer for you this Easter is that you may re-discover your need for the love of the Risen Christ - for renewed faith and hope, for a sense of inner peace - with the knowledge that your faith will be enlivened by His love, which endures forever. May you and your loved ones have a happy and peace-filled Easter!

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Fr Tom Mangattuthazhe