Life Is A Gift
The longing of mankind for life, freedom, justice, and security is as ancient and as new as humankind itself. There are moments when these truths confront us more intensely, as they have in the past few months and years.
Jesus Our Hope
When suffering and brutality and when disregard for human life break all boundaries and challenge our own understanding of ourselves, darkness can surround us. Nothing and no one can reach the minds and hearts of people anymore. Everything seems lost. Perhaps this is how Jesus' disciples, his friends, felt. The way Jesus spoke to people, the way he moved them, strengthened and uplifted them - his actions and what he did, brought hope to those who were on the verge of collapsing under the burdens of life.
And then this hope was brutally nailed to the cross. What happened? The disciples hid, they withdrew and retreated. Some of them even left Jerusalem.
Humanity of Humankind
In these days, we hear and see how people have to flee from their homes, and uproot their lives from the bombs of the selfishness and because of the few who would do anything to retain their power. When humanity loses its capacity for dialogue, darkness and loneliness consume it. When humanity no longer pursues humane relationships they become inhumane even to the point of spiralling out of control.
Easter Images
This image is quite different from the one in the Easter Vigil from last night. The Liturgy of the Word told the story of Creation from Genesis. God looks with joy and favor upon what he had created. The fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the animals on the land and He saw how good it was, with the diversity and all kinds of species, colors, sizes, and shapes.
And then man and woman were created in the image of the Creator God himself. They were made in his likeness. He blessed them and spoke to them: Love one another and take care of each other, help and support each other in your responsibility, to yourselves and to others, and toward all of creation. And at the end of the reading, we hear: God looked at everything he had made, and he found it very good.
Unity Needs Diversity
A few weeks ago I attended the piano concert of a Canadian pianist of Chinese descent at the Tonhalle in Zurich. Bruce Liu was born in 1997 in Paris and grew up in Montreal. At the age of 24, he won the highly esteemed 18th International Frederik Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw. With captivating elegance and ease, this young pianist took his audience on a journey of various tones, intervals, durations, melodies and moods. It was fabulous. I was thrilled, not only because of the concert, but because of something he said. It really impressed me. He said, “What unites us all is our diversity” It sounds so simple and yet so true. Our diversity unites us. Our shared future depends on attitudes such as this.
Civilization of Love
It is clear to me that we need a cultural shift, as Pope Francis strongly urged in his Papal Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium ten years ago. He denounced the excesses of the global economic order then and even now. Saint Pope John Paul II outlined the mission of each Christian when he used the term “Civilization of Love”. Most specifically was in his encyclical Centesimus Annus published in 1991. He discussed the need, for a new social order founded on the values of love and solidarity.
Civilization of Love in Action
In order for this “Civilization of Love” to be more than just an abstract dream or vision for mankind, there must be a foundation. Theologian and Professor of Philosophy Thomas Brose wrote that “Our faith needs concrete application and community.”
And that is what Mary of Magdala did. She brought fragrant oil to anoint Jesus' body as she set out. Then she found the empty tomb and the message of resurrected life.
Friends, for us to recognise life as both a gift and a mission, our faith needs a clear, heavenly, even divine point of reference. We can find this point of reference in Jesus, the crucified Christ. In his being, we can find answers to our hopes and our longings. Jesus Christ is our step forward, our lived truth. Christ Jesus is the fulfilment of abundant life!
The chains of death are broken and life rises from the dust of death.
Jesus, the Messiah is risen! Hallelujah, Hallelujah. This is the deepest core of our belief in God our Creator.
But Are We Okay?
Does this make everything all fine and good? No, we are called to be children of God, because the reality is that ours is a shared world. A world that is suffering and crying out under exploitation.
It is about our children.
It is about our families.
It is about our relationships.
Yes it is good, because God looked at everything he had made, and he found it very good.
Yes, because in the wounds of Jesus, the suffering of the world is not denied, not belittled or preached away.
Let us pray, that the cross and the empty tomb strengthen us in faith, hope and love.
Jesus Christ is always with us – no matter how bleak and hopeless our world may seem.
Friends, let us carry this Easter message of joy into our world.
We need this now more than ever.
Jesus Christ is risen! Hallelujah, Hallelujah.
He is truly risen! Hallelujah, Hallelujah!
Amen.