Easter Message from the Ordinary
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In her liturgy from Palm Sunday until Easter Day, the Church gives us the opportunity not only to hear the story of the Lord's passion, but also the experience of participating in it. We are there, watching with excitement, as He enters into Jerusalem on a colt. We are there in the upper room as He gives His disciples His body and His blood. We are there as He prays in the Garden of Gethsemane to be delivered from His fate. And we are there as He enters into His passion and dies for us on the cross.
But we are not mere spectators. Whilst we might cry "hosanna", we also cry "crucify Him". Whilst we are His disciples, like Judas and like Peter, we betray Him. We too can be indifferent to the suffering around us. Each time we separate ourselves from Christ , we help to drive in another nail.
Yet from the sin and suffering of the cross springs hope. The reaction to the teaching and example of our Holy Father, Pope Francis, reminds us that there is a world which is yearning for the good news of Jesus Christ.
My prayer for you this Eastertide is that, through the Holy Spirit, the joy of the resurrection will fill your hearts and the hearts of those whom you love.
Monsignor Keith Newton
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