Fr Greg's Easter Message 2024

Hi everyone, and Happy Easter to all of you.

It has been a very busy week at the Parish. And with good reason, for it is the most important week on the Church's calendar.

 
I hope this week will have been an uplifting experience for you all, and an opportunity to recalibrate your lives in the light the Resurrected Christ brings us.

For Catholics and Christians alike, Holy Week and Easter are pivotal moments of our common Creed, and the reason why we can boldly expect a beautiful life beyond the grave, where we hope to be reunited with all those whom we've loved and have loved us.

The Nicene Creed audaciously even invites us to "... look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come", to which we then add: "Amen!" or 'so be it'.

Know, then, that you are absolutely justified in your hope for an eternal life, for we know that all sin was 'vicariously' forgiven by Jesus' exchange of his own life for ours on the Cross of Calvary.

Easter also heralds a new beginning for us all, with a new covenant or agreement between God and us, and a new commandment to love.

The commandment itself is not new, for love of God, neighbour and self was required of us all from of old (Deut 6, 4 - 9). Jesus, however, gave us a 'new commandment' shortly before his betrayal, incarceration, scourging and death. The newness is in the sacrificial nature of his love, and he now invites us to "love one another as I have loved you". (Jn 13, 34)

He showed how universal, sacrificial and unconditional that love is meant to be, by 'vicariously' taking the place of the whole of humanity on the Cross, thereby inaugurating a new approach, a 'new covenant' between us and God. Sin is crucified there; the 'reset' took place when he "gave up his spirit" (Jn 19, 30).

For love, as St. Paul tells us, "cannot come to an end" (1 Cor 13, 8a). This love of Christ on the Cross is now an endless inspiration for selfless and sacrificial service to the world around us, and the people we come across day after day, following in Jesus' footsteps.

My hope for you all this Easter is that, as we gather together with friends and family, we might ponder the immense and undeserved love of the Son of God for us.

And that we, in turn might imitate Jesus by offering ourselves with Him as a 'living sacrifice' (Rom 12, 1) for others, bearing with one another charitably, patiently and unselfishly.

May we also spare a thought at this time, for the millions of those who cannot gather, due to war, persecution, illness or lack of a church or pastor, and pray that peace once again descends upon our troubled world.

God bless, and once again, a Happy and Holy Easter to you all.

Fr. Greg