“The Saturday of this weekend - Easter Eve –
sandwiched as it is between the distress and death of Good Friday and
the euphoria and joy of Easter Day, is a no man’s land. It is a waiting
and not-knowing place that sums up, in many ways, where many people find
themselves in our times. For the first followers of Jesus Christ it was a day when they had no idea about what was going to come next. Everything they had pinned their hopes on - the teacher, Jesus of Nazareth - had seemed to have been lost with his execution on a cross. In their grief they dispersed, after his death, to what was left of their lives to begin to pick up the pieces.
Many in our day are in just such a place: not knowing, anxious and uncertain; trying to pick up the pieces; wondering what on earth lies ahead, and not sure where to pin their future hopes.
In a not dissimilar human predicament, on that first Easter morning, the Risen Christ came to his group of terrified followers and said, ‘Do not be afraid.’ He says the same to us in our day. This Easter and every day on the ups-and-downs of our own journeys of faith he says “Do not be afraid.’ His command to us to love one another is also, therefore, an invitation to support and strengthen each other on our road together; healing each other not to be afraid.
In wishing all the people of Cork and this region every blessing for Easter I pray that God – the crucified Jesus and Risen Christ – will give us all strength and courage as we hope and work together for better days ahead.”