Archbishop of Canterbury's Easter Sermon 2024

Read the Archbishop’s sermon preached at the Easter Sunday Eucharist at Canterbury Cathedral this morning.

As delivered: 

Come Holy Spirit and set our hearts on fire with the flame of your love. Amen.

In each of our lives there are moments which change us forever. Sometimes it’s individual. We have watched, sympathised with and felt alongside the dignity of the King and the Princess of Wales as they have talked of their cancer – and in doing so, by their lack of selfishness, by their grace and their faith, boosted so many others.

Sometimes the events which change our lives are those which come internationally. A pastor in Kyiv told me of the moment he heard the Russian helicopters clattering over his house in 2022. He knew his life, his country’s future, had all been altered once for all, and nothing could be the same again.

In all these cases we pray – for the Royal family, for so many places.

When Jesus’ life ended so did the lives of many other people. His mother Mary, Salome and Mary Magdalene were among them. The reason they go to his grave early on this Sunday morning is to spend time preparing his corpse for its final resting place. What they encountered changed their world: “He has been raised; He is not here.” They are perplexed, terrified. Every assumption no longer holds water, whether about God, about Jesus, about life and death itself. Jesus is God and when we look at Jesus we see the very nature of God.

“He has been raised, he is not here.” God is the victor over death, even his own death, in Jesus. Death is conquered.

Everything changed. The universe shifted to a new mode of living.

And so our understanding of Jesus must change: he was not just a great teacher or a good man, but God revealing God. The one they knew had been raised from death.

How we see the world must change; how we see our purpose in this changed world must change, for God came as baby, making room for us to ignore him. God lived a fully human life, in obscurity. He was crucified, bearing on his shoulders the cost of all human sin and failure, and God died for our sins, unseen by most.  Now we can be forgiven all our wrongdoing. God is humble and in love reveals himself to us with the choice of accepting him in faith or living with our own wisdom. God exists; we must deal with God’s reality.

God suffers for his love-in-action. The changed world is one in which the greatest darkness is overcome at the highest price: the crucified God. We will suffer in our broken world, because God did, but God’s life is always stronger than the worst of this world. That is Christian belief. It calls all of us, each of us, to courageous action in changed lives and changed world and changed understanding of God.

We must confront evil and pain. Whether it is the evil of people smugglers, or county lines in our schools, or the pain and suffering in a family riven with grief or rage or substance abuse; Jesus, the God-man, who experienced every pain and temptation, is calling you and me to love-in-action. Action driven by prayer, directed in wisdom.

The church is not party political, for its members are all different in our party politics. But the church does not pick causes by opinion polls or human pressure: we show love-in-action and word because of who God is, revealed in Jesus. We act because of what God says, found in the Bible and lived out by the church.

Today in England in over 30,000 social projects, in 8,000 food banks, we proclaim the righteousness of God who acts for the poor and vulnerable, for the rich and comfortable, with love and perfect justice for all, good and bad.

Nothing in this world will stop us seeking to obey God faithfully, whatever the ridicule, the price or the result, for Christ is risen and He will be our final and perfect judge.

Therefore, let us seek action amongst the starving children of Gaza and Sudan, and the parents who desperately try to find food for them; action the hostages held by Hamas; for those in the trenches and cities and fears of Ukraine; in at least 30 but probably closer to 50 other places of armed conflict; action for the 25 – 30% of children in this country in poverty.  

God is revealed in Jesus, so action-in-love means we must live sacrificially and generously, for others not for ourselves. We accept that suffering is normal, for it was normal for Jesus. We accept generosity is necessary because God’s generous gift was giving his Son, Jesus, so that we might have eternal life.

The result of sacrifice and generosity is to be like Jesus in his resurrection as we are like Jesus in his suffering. St Paul puts it perfectly: “For me to live is Christ, to die is gain.”

We carry in words and actions the good news of Jesus, for we have the news of death conquered.

The resurrection is God-shaped, God-sized. It is literally a new creation that sets the whole of what exists, especially our lives, on a path of purpose and hope, whatever evil deeds or times will confront us in the next few years.

God has done everything necessary about everything evil – even death. Eternal life is God’s gift to be grasped by every person, society, nation and place. God says to each of us: “Choose life from God’s hands through faith in Jesus Christ, who is God crucified, God resurrected.”

Amen

Pope Francis’ urbi et orbi blessing for Easter 2024

On the morning of Easter Sunday 2024, Pope Francis presided over Mass in St. Peter’s Square before delivering his urbi et orbi message and blessing from the central loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica in the presence of an estimated 60,000 people.

“Urbi et orbi” means “To the city [of Rome] and to the world.” It is a special apostolic blessing given by the pope every year on Easter Sunday, Christmas, and other special occasions.

Here is the full text of the pope’s blessing:

Dear brothers and sisters: Happy Easter!

Today throughout the world there resounds the message proclaimed 2,000 years ago from Jerusalem: “Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified, has been raised!” (Mk 16:6).

The Church relives the amazement of the women who went to the tomb at dawn on the first day of the week. The tomb of Jesus had been sealed with a great stone. Today too, great stones, heavy stones, block the hopes of humanity: the stone of war, the stone of humanitarian crises, the stone of human rights violations, the stone of human trafficking, and other stones as well. Like the women disciples of Jesus, we ask one another: “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” (cf. Mk 16:3).

This is the amazing discovery of that Easter morning: The stone, the immense stone, was rolled away. The astonishment of the women is our astonishment as well: The tomb of Jesus is open, and it is empty! From this, everything begins anew! A new path leads through that empty tomb: The path that none of us, but God alone, could open: the path of life in the midst of death, the path of peace in the midst of war, the path of reconciliation in the midst of hatred, the path of fraternity in the midst of hostility.

Brothers and sisters, Jesus Christ is risen! He alone has the power to roll away the stones that block the path to life. He, the living One, is himself that path. He is the Way: the way that leads to life, the way of peace, reconciliation, and fraternity. He opens that path, humanly impossible, because he alone takes away the sin of the world and forgives us our sins. For without God’s forgiveness, that stone cannot be removed. Without the forgiveness of sins, there is no overcoming the barriers of prejudice, mutual recrimination, the presumption that we are always right and others wrong. Only the risen Christ, by granting us the forgiveness of our sins, opens the way for a renewed world.

Jesus alone opens up before us the doors of life, those doors that continually we shut with the wars spreading throughout the world. Today we want, first and foremost, to turn our eyes to the holy city of Jerusalem, that witnessed the mystery of the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus, and to all the Christian communities of the Holy Land.

My thoughts go especially to the victims of the many conflicts worldwide, beginning with those in Israel and Palestine, and in Ukraine. May the risen Christ open a path of peace for the war-torn peoples of those regions. In calling for respect for the principles of international law, I express my hope for a general exchange of all prisoners between Russia and Ukraine: all for the sake of all!

I appeal once again that access to humanitarian aid be ensured to Gaza, and call once more for the prompt release of the hostages seized on 7 October last and for an immediate cease-fire in the Strip.

Let us not allow the current hostilities to continue to have grave repercussions on the civil population, by now at the limit of its endurance, and above all on the children. How much suffering we see in the eyes of the children: The children in those lands at war have forgotten how to smile! With those eyes, they ask us: Why? Why all this death? Why all this destruction? War is always an absurdity, war is always a defeat! Let us not allow the strengthening winds of war to blow on Europe and the Mediterranean. Let us not yield to the logic of weapons and rearming. Peace is never made with arms, but with outstretched hands and open hearts.

Brothers and sisters, let us not forget Syria, which for 13 years has suffered from the effects of a long and devastating war. So many deaths and disappearances, so much poverty and destruction call for a response on the part of everyone, and of the international community.

My thoughts turn today in a special way to Lebanon, which has for some time experienced institutional impasse and a deepening economic and social crisis, now aggravated by the hostilities on its border with Israel. May the risen Lord console the beloved Lebanese people and sustain the entire country in its vocation to be a land of encounter, coexistence, and pluralism.

I also think in particular of the region of the Western Balkans, where significant steps are being taken toward integration in the European project. May ethnic, cultural, and confessional differences not be a cause of division but rather a source of enrichment for all of Europe and for the world as a whole.

I likewise encourage the discussions taking place between Armenia and Azerbaijan, so that, with the support of the international community, they can pursue dialogue, assist the displaced, respect the places of worship of the various religious confessions, and arrive as soon as possible at a definitive peace agreement.

May the risen Christ open a path of hope to all those who in other parts of the world are suffering from violence, conflict, food insecurity, and the effects of climate change. May the Lord grant consolation to the victims of terrorism in all its forms. Let us pray for all those who have lost their lives and implore the repentance and conversion of the perpetrators of those crimes.

May the risen Lord assist the Haitian people, so that there can soon be an end to the acts of violence, devastation, and bloodshed in that country, and that it can advance on the path to democracy and fraternity.

May Christ grant consolation and strength to the Rohingya, beset by a grave humanitarian crisis, and open a path to reconciliation in Myanmar, torn for years now by internal conflicts, so that every logic of violence may be definitively abandoned.

May the Lord open paths of peace on the African continent, especially for the suffering peoples in Sudan and in the entire region of the Sahel, in the Horn of Africa, in the region of Kivu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and in the province of Capo Delgado in Mozambique, and bring an end to the prolonged situation of drought, which affects vast areas and provokes famine and hunger.

May the Risen One make the light of his face shine upon migrants and on all those who are passing through a period of economic difficulty, and offer them consolation and hope in their moment of need. May Christ guide all persons of goodwill to unite themselves in solidarity, in order to address together the many challenges that loom over the poorest families in their search for a better life and happiness.

On this day when we celebrate the life given us in the resurrection of the Son, let us remember the infinite love of God for each of us: a love that overcomes every limit and every weakness. And yet how much the precious gift of life is despised! How many children cannot even be born? How many die of hunger and are deprived of essential care or are victims of abuse and violence? How many lives are made objects of trafficking for the increasing commerce in human beings?

Brothers and sisters, on the day when Christ has set us free from the slavery of death, I appeal to all who have political responsibilities to spare no efforts in combatting the scourge of human trafficking, by working tirelessly to dismantle the networks of exploitation, and to bring freedom to those who are their victims. May the Lord comfort their families, above all those who anxiously await news of their loved ones, and ensure them comfort and hope.

May the light of the Resurrection illuminate our minds and convert our hearts, and make us aware of the value of every human life, which must be welcomed, protected, and loved.

A happy Easter to all!

‘Give the good and you will find the good’ – Easter Day Sermon of the Archbishop of Dublin - Archbishop Michael Jackson

“Go and find the Jesus who has gone ahead of you into today’s Galilees” – was Archbishop Michael Jackson’s invitation to follow in a new way in his sermon for Easter Day 2024. As is tradition, the Archbishop of Dublin preached in Christ Church Cathedral during the Festal Eucharist on Easter morning (Sunday March 31).

In his sermon, he looked at the power of the Resurrection and the darkness and light. Drawing on the Gospel of St John (Chapter 20) he observed that there is no light without darkness pointing out that John was theatrical about darkness and betrayal and both the betrayal of Jesus and his arrest happen at night.

“Overall, Jesus’s acceptance most vividly in the Gospel of John of the need for him to die is an expression of light shining in darkness and his being true to his birth and its purpose. For all of us, I imagine, this takes us into a place both of elation and of alarm because death is not really on our agenda while we live. And why should it be? Yet Easter makes us face the interplay of death and life, darkness and light in ways that take us forward from the drama of Christmas to the drama of Easter and Ascension. We are given by God a hope that death and life make sense together,” he said.

The Archbishop said that for him to dwell excessively on the places and people of destruction and badness in today’s world would be to capitulate to darkness instead of embracing light. “Instead, I am going to invite you in the spirit of Easter to go and find the Jesus who has gone ahead of you into today’s Galilees wherever they are for you and in your lives, wherever other people lead you to Galilee. Look for the good. Give the good and you will find the good. This is where Easter hope will confound even, if not especially, an optimism. It will give us instead the divine gift of The Holy Spirit who is also an Easter gift to the world. This is the invitation to follow in a new way,” Archbishop Jackson concluded.

You can read the Archbishop’s sermon in full below:

Easter Day March 31st 2024, Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin

St John 20.1: Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb …

THE POWER OF RESURRECTION

There is no getting round the truth claim of St John 20.1, once you have decided that Christianity is the path you want to take in life. A situation confronting us that looks like the work of grave robbery and skulduggery turns out, with the eyes of faith and with the ears of hope, to be the full flowering of the life of God and of a life with God all rolled into one. The story, like so many good stories, needs to be told again, year after year, if we are to appreciate the journey in discipleship, the camino in companionship, that the first followers of Jesus Christ had to take early on the first day of the week … They were formal and informal. They were men and women. They were strong and faint. But they are the people of God then as now. Faltering beginnings lead us through pictures of fear and flight, grief and comfort, misunderstanding and recognition right the way through to the point where Mary Magdalene simply announces to the disciples: I have seen the Lord. Innocence, clarity, joy and hope combine to tell the story of faith to all nations. These are virtues for which we should search in our own empty tomb on this Day of Resurrection.

So much happens in this short story in the early morning light. It culminates in a statement that is the honourable envy of all of us who follow Jesus Christ today: I have seen the Lord. Many of those inside the church are tormented by the reality of their para–belief and therefore they fear to embrace the freedom given us by obedience to Christ Risen. It seems the polar opposite of evidential living and regulated belief that our highly sophisticated and highly wasteful societies have made a norm in everyday life.For such a reason, the leap of faith is too much of a risk, too invisible a dividend. It is not even any longer that it is not worth the effort. It is the fact that for many of us, it simply no longer adds up to the lives we find ourselves living and being forced to live.

THERE IS NO LIGHT WITHOUT DARKNESS

St John’s Gospel begins with a breath–taking story of creation and Christmas combined. It is birth without a maternity ward. The Spirit moves over the void and The Spirit moves over The Mother of God. Emptiness and energy come together. Darkness and light meet and they come to some working accommodation. While the darkness cannot be expected to go away for good, nor should we want it to, the light triumphs to our eternal earthly relief. This points us to God and to heaven. This, after all, is orthodoxy, not Gnosticism. Here again, there is a warning for us as Christians living in the wilderness of the world today. Optimism, aways an attractive holding bay for the anxious, can be a pale shadow of something else: reflective truth, a recognition of reality, a development of potential. Sometimes, high functioning pessimism is a better option!

Survival, for the majority of people, is an attainment and a success. About this we need to be honest. I give you a cautionary tale of the potency of too much light, if it is light that we constantly crave – and all that comes with it. Scipio Africanus, the Roman General, was captured by the Carthaginians after the disastrous outcome for Rome of The Punic Wars in the second century BCE. As often in times of war, as we see today with inhuman and inhumane results in, for example, Russia&Ukraine and in Israel&Gaza, nations and states overstretch themselves. Long before either of them is defeated by the other, they have effectively become their own enemy and are easily picked off in terms of irreparable harm to their own citizens. Scipio was crucified with his eyes propped open facing the sun and looking toward his native land. This was to ensure that he would die directly from the light itself; and not see his own country as he departed life on earth; and that he be a timely warning to his defeated compatriots. And so he proved.

St John is extremely theatrical about darkness and betrayal. The departure of the iconic Judas to betray Jesus is concluded by the words: And it was night. The arrest of Jesus happens by night, in the dark, in the Garden of Gethsemane. Overall, Jesus’s acceptance most vividly in the Gospel of John of the need for him to die is an expression of light shining in darkness and his being true to his birth and its purpose. For all of us, I imagine, this takes us into a place both of elation and of alarm because death is not really on our agenda while we live. And why should it be? Yet Easter makes us face the interplay of death and life, darkness and light in ways that take us forward from the drama of Christmas to the drama of Easter and Ascension. We are given by God a hope that death and life make sense together.   

THERE IS NO FUTURE WITHOUT SURPRISES

Easter Day is a day of the future living and shining in present time. We are catapulted out of the predictable into the possible and, once again, out of the possible into the projections of ourselves as participants in an Easter Life. Resurrection is here to stay. Resurrection is the realization of the reconnecting of earth and heaven in the person of Jesus Christ and so it is the fulfilment in a very special way of something as simple and so precious as the clause in The Lord’s Prayer: … on earth as it is in heaven … The circle of creation is complete. So also are those prophecies of The Kingdom of God, for example the prophecy of Isaiah as embedded in The Gospel of Luke (4.18, 19) which some of us will have heard on Maundy Thursday in this very cathedral: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me; he has sent me to announce good news to the poor, to proclaim release for prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind; to let the broken victims go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.

The Year of Jubilee remains a mirage beyond the grasp or the dream of the optimists among us. … on earth as it is in heaven … remains a hope which is a Godly voice and a work in progress. The earthly life of Jesus, committed to us for its fulfilment through the operation of our hands and feet, is incomplete and it is the work of God in our hands.

For me now to dwell excessively on the places and the people of destruction and badness in today’s world would capitulate to darkness instead of embracing light. It might even go further and feed a sense of superiority on the part of religious people over those who do bad things as if we ourselves do not also do bad things. I am not going to do this. Instead, I am going to invite you in the spirit of Easter to go and find the Jesus who has gone ahead of you into today’s Galilees wherever they are for you and in your lives, wherever other people lead you to Galilee. Look for the good. Give the good and you will find the good. This is where Easter hope will confound even, if not especially, an optimism. It will give us instead the divine gift of The Holy Spirit who is also an Easter gift to the world.   

THIS IS THE INVITATION TO FOLLOW IN A NEW WAY

Easter Message 2024 - Diocese of Kilmore

We celebrate Easter, the rising of Jesus from death, as the Springtime of growth watered by the rains, emerges, and begins to blossom into the beauty and diversity of new life.

 

During Easter, may we take time in the presence of our loving God to be reminded how the waters of our baptism calls us to a mission and a purpose in life.

 

As the rain and snow water the earth to give growth (Is. 55:11), may our time with God’s Word yield the growth of justice, and peace in our world.

 

As we gather in faith at Easter, may we rejoice in being nourished by the celebration of our Risen Lord and so be hopeful for the future.

 

+ Martin Hayes, Bishop of Kilmore.

Easter Message 2024 - Diocese of Killaloe

Quin Abbey, this sacred place in which we celebrate Dawn Mass on this Easter morning was built for two friars of the Franciscan order over 500 years ago.

Early Monastic Site

A far earlier monastery had existed on this site but was burned down in 1278.

Norman Castle

A Norman castle was built soon after.  Around 1350 the castle, by then a ruin, was rebuilt as a church by the MacNamara Clan.

Present Abbey

The present abbey or friary was rebuilt by the Macnamaras in the early 1400’s.

Reformation

In 1541, during the Reformation, King Henry VIII confiscated the friary and it passed into the hands of Conor O’Brian, Earl of Thomond.

Return Again!

In about 1590 the MacNamaras regained control of the site and once again set about repairing and restoring it. The monastery was repaired by 1604.

Glory Days

In about 1640 the building became a college and is alleged to have had 800 students, the golden period of the Abbey, the glory days, so to speak.

Cromwellian Invasion

Oliver Cromwell arrived only 10 years later, killing the friars and destroying the friary. In 1671 the building was once again restored, but never regained its former status.

Historical Observation

In 1740 Bishop Pococke a man famous for his historical travels around Ireland and England sums up the place in the following words: “Quin is one of the finest and most entire monasteries that I have seen in Ireland.”  As late as 1808 the monastery was reported to be in much the same condition as Pococke had found it.

In 1760 the friars were ultimately expelled, although the last Friar, John Hogan, remained there until his death in 1820, by which time the buildings were ruined by neglect.

Historical and Religious Significance

The friary, with intact cloister, and many other surviving architectural features make the friary of significant historical and religious value.  We marvel and get our minds around the depth of history contained in the walls here.  If only they could speak, what interesting tales they would have to tell!

State and Community Care

We are so grateful to the OPW for the work of preservation and conservation here and for the permission to celebrate Dawn Mass here this Easter morning. Sincere thanks also for the trojan work of the local community who have meticulously facilitated this gathering not just this year, but last as well.

Absorbing the Faith Significance on this Easter Day

Let us absorb on this Easter morning the echoes and resonances of Christianity that reside in the walls and cracks in the stones of this sacred place.  From that abbreviated history we see it has been a place not only of serene religious celebration but also a place of strife, suffering and challenge.  That is the story of the last few days of Holy Week and the Easter Triduum.  During these days we have commemorated the journey of the cross of Jesus towards his redemptive suffering and death.

Easter a message of endurcance and Hope

Easter however is a happy message of endurance, of victory of survival.  Just like this Abbey that refuses to die – so too the Easter message is a message of victory of light over darkness, grace over sin, life over death.  Whatever challenges and sufferings you might have they are given meaning, context and fresh hope for endurance and perseverance, no matter what.

Easter Blessings

We rejoice that we are Easter people, Resurrection people, enjoying the great hope that the benefits of Christ’s redemptive victory is part of our Lot.  Tá Mac na hÓighe slán!  He has risen from the dead as he said he would.  We rejoice and are Glad.  Happy Easter Sunday morning to you all in this most special and sacred of locations.

Amen!

Easter Message 2024 - Diocese of Kildare & Leighlin

I love the refrain that carried us through these past Triduum days “Christ was humbler yet, even to accepting death, death on a cross, but God raised him high”. 

There was that sense of the refrain building up as each day of the Triduum passed. Everything is there in those few words and Easter is the greatest celebration in the cycle of our Church. 

We make a lot of Lent, I think, sometimes to the neglect of Easter.

The Sacred Triduum allowed us to walk with Jesus in his pain and desolation. It brought us many places, from a procession where palms were waving to an upper room to a garden and then to a hill, like no other hill. 

Yesterday we waited at the tomb, with that feeling that God was absent.

Then comes the great Easter Vigil as we read scripture, light candles, baptise new members of the church and celebrate the Eucharist. 

Easter lasts much longer than a vigil night, splendid as that celebration may be. Easter lasts for fifty days.

As we journey those days, may we hold in our prayers those who need most to hear that “God raised him high”. 

God will be with us all and raise us with him; this is the hope of the new beginnings that Easter promises.

May the Risen One be with you this Easter, 

+ Denis

Easter Message 2024 - Diocese of Derry

Easter is a time for many commemorations and celebrations. For some is remains a religious festival that just marks the end of Lent. For others in Ireland, it has political overtones. For many it is a Spring break from work or studies. So why do Christians put so much emphasis on recalling the events surrounding Christ's death? After all, Christmas is a much nicer and cuddlier story.

Firstly, life is tough and always has been tough. We think of current wars and financial pressures. They hint at a gloomy future. But human life has always lived in the shadow of illness, violence and tragedy – for we are not in charge of all that happens to us. Our celebrations of Christ's death and Resurrection are not just looking back to distant historical events. The first lesson of Easter that we celebrate this weekend is that God is in charge. God is present with grace on our Calvaries, not an absentee landlord who cares little for anyone. You are not a nobody in God's eyes. Evil may even kill us but it will crush us. Your body is sacred and, whatever it has suffered or however it is scarred, it can be raised up in glory on the last day. Easter celebrates the ultimate victory of hope over despair. We all know great people who have been able to face huge loss or broken dreams and still find a balance though believing that their lives are not a disaster. Easter makes a statement for all times and places about who we are and how our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. Our lives are of eternal value in the eyes of God. Resurrection challenges us not just to believe in God but to believe in a God who believes in us. In an age of superficiality that offers little meaning to human life, Jesus announces the triumph of good over evil, of life over death, of love over hatred.

Secondly, looking through the lens of the Resurrection, Christians have a particular way of remembering the awful events of Calvary. The Gospels do not deny the deceit of the high priests and pharisees, the brutality of the Romans or the cowardice of the disciples. But the Gospels look back with hope believing God is at work in all the circumstances of our lives. The early Church told a story that made out of Calvary a foundation for healing rather than a cesspit of anger. That is a lesson for our own times. In ongoing wars, in Ukraine and the Holy Land, the pain of past hurts is often remembered in such a way as to justify wholesale dis-membering of the other side. In our own society, we have constant anniversaries to remember the past. But some will use the memory of historical events in order to justify present violence. They follow the logic that blood should be shed to avenge blood shed. Jesus breaks that cycle and offers us a way out of the prison and the twisted logic that we create – a destructive way of remembering that will visit more violence on our children. The narrative of Jesus being burdened with the sins of the world can offer us healing. We can generate a narrative about those who suffered in our painful past, not merely as victims of our brutal enemies but as those who bore the cross because of our sinful political failings and I justices. As we search for ways to deal with the legacy of the past, Christ's death and Resurrection offers us a grace-filled language that remembers in order to generate hope and not merely destructive anger.

Thirdly, Resurrection speaks of the victory of good over evil. Our culture struggles with the reality of evil. On the one hand, the narrative says that the individual is entitled to choose and that no-one's choice should be judged. And yet, we risk drowning in a wave of laws that try to control human behaviour in a context where we are told that there Is neither right nor wrong, just what is legal and what is illegal. The triumph of life and love in the Resurrection points to the power of virtue and grace. Law tries to prevent wrong. Grace tries to inspire the true, the beautiful and the good. Without the living God who calls us to new life, our existence is merely a series of thrills to be stroked off our bucket list of experiences, full of sound and fury signifying nothing - and going nowhere. The Resurrection of Jesus proclaims that virtue and faithfulness will bear fruit in God's own good time, that injustice and arrogance will not have the last laugh. Easter is God's vindication of Christ's message that the gentle, the merciful, those who hunger and thirst for justice will be victorious. The Resurrection of the crucified Jesus is the message that brings good news to the poor and promises liberty to those who lie enchained by human evil and bad choices. So many are trapped in a world that fears to speak of virtue because the concept of good challenges the arrogance of the strong. The Resurrection is the source of the ultimate liberation theology and calls out of abuses of power. No wonder it is unwelcome in some quarters for it is a liberating message for those who labour and are overburdened.

Tonight, we celebrate Christ's rising from the dead. We can reduce that event to a nice ceremony. Or we can marvel at what happened that morning in Jerusalem as a turning point in human history. It is such a significant happening that St Paul could write little more than 20 years later that, if our hope in Christ has been for this life only, we are the most unfortunate of people. (1 Cor 15:19). Christ is risen. That makes all for difference. It is so badly needed in our violent, superficial culture.

-Our bodies and our lives are precious.

-We can remember pain in a way that gives new life.

-And virtue wins out in the end

Christ is risen and alleluia is our song.

+ Donal

Easter Message 2024 - Diocese of Galway, Kilmacduagh & Kilfenora

“No matter how dark the days we live in are or what dark places we wander into in life there is always hope. For the Christian, light not darkness, love not hate, goodness not badness, life not death will conquer in the end.” – Bishop Michael, The Easter Vigil in the Holy Night 2024

“The world is in a very dark place at the moment.”

 

Recently, I had a conversation with a young mother about the challenges she was having handing on the faith to her children. As we chatted she said to me “The world is in a very dark place at the moment.” I have always tended to shy away from such dark negative generalisations. However, for some reason, her words kept coming back to me: “The world is in a very dark place at the moment.” My mind went first to the people of Gaza. That blood soaked land, where the death and destruction caused by the war casts a dark shadow on our humanity. Then, I thought of Ukraine -two full years of war with no hope of an ending and even the possibility of the conflict spreading to other places with catastrophic consequence. The East is pitted against the West. While Islam, Judaism and Christianity are seen as foes not brothers and sisters with Abraham as our common Father. In a world where so many suffer want and go hungry – never has so much been spent on systematic warmaking, destruction and death. Thousands of migrants drown. Their dreams for a better life drowning with them. All this while, the dark shadow of climate change and its dire consequences creeps up on humanity. Here in Ireland, people struggle to make ends meet and find a place to live. Tensions rise as we try to welcome the stranger, while a culture of death becomes more and more accepted. On a personal level, many are battling with depression, addiction, poverty, family tensions, the loss of a loved one and poor health. At times the darkness is so dark and the prospects of light so far away that we can throw up our hands in despair and lose hope. The more, I think about it, perhaps the more I could be convinced that “the world is in a very dark place at the moment.” A Good Friday mood abounds in so so many places of our lives and of our world at this time.

The Journey of Holy Week 2024

 

Over the last few days as a people of faith we have been on a journey -the journey of recalling and reliving the last days of the life of Jesus. Against the backdrop of the Passover gathering with those closest to him in this world – we heard rumours of betrayal. Later, on the mount of Olives, after a profoundly personal spiritual struggle to do what was right – he is arrested. The crowds soon turn on him and he is condemned to the vile viciousness of execution by crucifixion. We looked on helpless, as the life of this young man who had touched so many with his simple message came to a violent and bloody end. We were told that a darkness covered the earth as he breathed his last. We saw, his lifeless, broken body taken from the cross, hastily prepared for burial and laid in the darkness of a borrowed tomb. We felt the pain of his Mother and his disciples. We turned our backs and faced towards home convinced that that that was the end – darkness had won the day.

The tomb is empty …

 

Then, like a bolt out of the blue -comes startling news that no one would have expected. There are no eyewitness accounts of the actual moment. However, the experiences of those in its direct aftermath have been retold over and over again. From early on the first day of the week – after the women, Peter and John had come to visit the tomb, incredible news began to filter out. The tomb was empty. The grave clothes had been rolled up. They had met and spoken with that same Jesus who had died and was buried. He was now transformed, really present and alive in their midst. For weeks afterwards, they struggled to understand what had happened and found it even difficult to express their experience in logical words.

God’s last word is not death and mindless destruction

 

For me the greatest proof that Jesus is risen, lies in the effect it had on those early apostles and disciples. They were ordinary people, like you and me, people who had experienced the trauma and loss of his death. However, instead of downhearted doubt they now exhibited exuberant hope. Fear that they might meet the same fate as Jesus had been transformed into an almost foolhardy urge to tell everyone what they had experienced, no matter what the consequences. In due course, all of the twelve apostles, bar one, were to die the deaths of Martyrs rather than deny what they had experienced. For the early Christians –the resurrection of Jesus had become his defining hour. It showed forth what they had failed to understand for so long. In Jesus and through Jesus, God himself had definitively entered this world of ours. God who created all that is – had definitively intervened on the side of light not darkness, hope not despair – on the side of life not death. When it seemed like all was over and darkness itself had reigned – the news of the Resurrection brought new hope, new light and new life. This was good news – good news that they and their first century world needed to hear. Surely, this is a message as valid for us today as it was back then. God’s last word is not death and mindless destruction. No matter how dark the days we live in are or what dark places we wander into in life there is always hope. For the Christian, light not darkness, love not hate, goodness not badness, life not death will conquer in the end.

Have hope

 

If there was a message that, I would like us to take from being here on this most sacred night of the Christian year - it is this. First of all and above all things - be confident – have hope. Goodness triumphed this Easter night those many years ago. No matter how dark things are light will always come, goodness will always triumph – the God of life will always prevail.

Be hope in action

Secondly, like those early disciples we can make our world a better place by sharing this message not just in our words but also in our deeds. Let us be hope in action. Let us try to light a light where there is darkness, to be good when there is bad, let us try to be hopeful when there is despair, let us never grow tired of talking about peace when there is war or of celebrating life in the face of death. Let us reach out rather than push away, give when we can give, help when we can help, be kind when we can be kind. Let us be twenty-first century beacons of Christian hope, human lighthouses pointing to a better way amid the many darknesses of this world of ours today.

“He is not here! He is risen! He has gone before you to Galilee!” (Mt. 28) Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

(Bishop Michael, Easter Vigil, 2024)

Easter Message 2024 - Diocese of Clonfert

“No matter how dark the days we live in are or what dark places we wander into in life there is always hope. For the Christian, light not darkness, love not hate, goodness not badness, life not death will conquer in the end.” – Bishop Michael, The Easter Vigil in the Holy Night 2024

“The world is in a very dark place at the moment.”

 

Recently, I had a conversation with a young mother about the challenges she was having handing on the faith to her children. As we chatted she said to me “The world is in a very dark place at the moment.” I have always tended to shy away from such dark negative generalisations. However, for some reason, her words kept coming back to me: “The world is in a very dark place at the moment.” My mind went first to the people of Gaza. That blood soaked land, where the death and destruction caused by the war casts a dark shadow on our humanity. Then, I thought of Ukraine -two full years of war with no hope of an ending and even the possibility of the conflict spreading to other places with catastrophic consequence. The East is pitted against the West. While Islam, Judaism and Christianity are seen as foes not brothers and sisters with Abraham as our common Father. In a world where so many suffer want and go hungry – never has so much been spent on systematic warmaking, destruction and death. Thousands of migrants drown. Their dreams for a better life drowning with them. All this while, the dark shadow of climate change and its dire consequences creeps up on humanity. Here in Ireland, people struggle to make ends meet and find a place to live. Tensions rise as we try to welcome the stranger, while a culture of death becomes more and more accepted. On a personal level, many are battling with depression, addiction, poverty, family tensions, the loss of a loved one and poor health. At times the darkness is so dark and the prospects of light so far away that we can throw up our hands in despair and lose hope. The more, I think about it, perhaps the more I could be convinced that “the world is in a very dark place at the moment.” A Good Friday mood abounds in so so many places of our lives and of our world at this time.

The Journey of Holy Week 2024

 

Over the last few days as a people of faith we have been on a journey -the journey of recalling and reliving the last days of the life of Jesus. Against the backdrop of the Passover gathering with those closest to him in this world – we heard rumours of betrayal. Later, on the mount of Olives, after a profoundly personal spiritual struggle to do what was right – he is arrested. The crowds soon turn on him and he is condemned to the vile viciousness of execution by crucifixion. We looked on helpless, as the life of this young man who had touched so many with his simple message came to a violent and bloody end. We were told that a darkness covered the earth as he breathed his last. We saw, his lifeless, broken body taken from the cross, hastily prepared for burial and laid in the darkness of a borrowed tomb. We felt the pain of his Mother and his disciples. We turned our backs and faced towards home convinced that that that was the end – darkness had won the day.

The tomb is empty …

 

Then, like a bolt out of the blue -comes startling news that no one would have expected. There are no eyewitness accounts of the actual moment. However, the experiences of those in its direct aftermath have been retold over and over again. From early on the first day of the week – after the women, Peter and John had come to visit the tomb, incredible news began to filter out. The tomb was empty. The grave clothes had been rolled up. They had met and spoken with that same Jesus who had died and was buried. He was now transformed, really present and alive in their midst. For weeks afterwards, they struggled to understand what had happened and found it even difficult to express their experience in logical words.

God’s last word is not death and mindless destruction

 

For me the greatest proof that Jesus is risen, lies in the effect it had on those early apostles and disciples. They were ordinary people, like you and me, people who had experienced the trauma and loss of his death. However, instead of downhearted doubt they now exhibited exuberant hope. Fear that they might meet the same fate as Jesus had been transformed into an almost foolhardy urge to tell everyone what they had experienced, no matter what the consequences. In due course, all of the twelve apostles, bar one, were to die the deaths of Martyrs rather than deny what they had experienced. For the early Christians –the resurrection of Jesus had become his defining hour. It showed forth what they had failed to understand for so long. In Jesus and through Jesus, God himself had definitively entered this world of ours. God who created all that is – had definitively intervened on the side of light not darkness, hope not despair – on the side of life not death. When it seemed like all was over and darkness itself had reigned – the news of the Resurrection brought new hope, new light and new life. This was good news – good news that they and their first century world needed to hear. Surely, this is a message as valid for us today as it was back then. God’s last word is not death and mindless destruction. No matter how dark the days we live in are or what dark places we wander into in life there is always hope. For the Christian, light not darkness, love not hate, goodness not badness, life not death will conquer in the end.

Have hope

 

If there was a message that, I would like us to take from being here on this most sacred night of the Christian year - it is this. First of all and above all things - be confident – have hope. Goodness triumphed this Easter night those many years ago. No matter how dark things are light will always come, goodness will always triumph – the God of life will always prevail.

Be hope in action

Secondly, like those early disciples we can make our world a better place by sharing this message not just in our words but also in our deeds. Let us be hope in action. Let us try to light a light where there is darkness, to be good when there is bad, let us try to be hopeful when there is despair, let us never grow tired of talking about peace when there is war or of celebrating life in the face of death. Let us reach out rather than push away, give when we can give, help when we can help, be kind when we can be kind. Let us be twenty-first century beacons of Christian hope, human lighthouses pointing to a better way amid the many darknesses of this world of ours today.

“He is not here! He is risen! He has gone before you to Galilee!” (Mt. 28) Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

(Bishop Michael, Easter Vigil, 2024)

Easter Message 2024 - Diocese of Ardagh & Clonmacnoise

He is risen, Alleluia.

If Jesus did not rise from the dead, life is absurd, the grave is without hope and our faith is meaningless. 

The resurrection then, was the most significant event in human history. It elevates Christianity above all other world religions. It’s no wonder that it is mentioned more than one hundred times in the New Testament. 

We live in the shadow of Easter and we rejoice on this day, the greatest of all Sundays in the Christian calendar. 

The tomb is empty. Life has a destination. Hope dawns anew. Our God reigns. His victory is our victory. 

Good has triumphed over evil; light over darkness; peace over chaos. The fact that He rose at the darkest hour, just before the dawn is a striking reminder that, when all seems lost, resurrection is near. 

Where darkness threatens Easter reigns. When we reach ‘rock bottom’ we discover that Christ is the rock at the bottom. The experience of the women who went to the tomb on that Easter morning speaks to us too. They  were worried about the stone. Who would move it? Their worries were unfounded. 

In life, we fret endlessly, never more so than in our present troubled fractured world, but God knows His plan and all shall be well. Because of the resurrection, there is a future for every human being. May we radiate the hope and joy of the Easter message in all we think, say and do.

Beannachtaí na Cásca daoibh.

BBC accused of ‘abandoning Christianity’ after axing traditional Easter service broadcast

The BBC has been accused of “abandoning” Britain’s Christian faith after it made the decision to axe a traditional Easter service broadcast.

The programme, which would have broadcast a traditional religious service from King’s College, Cambridge, was dropped in favour of religious coverage elsewhere across the broadcaster’s platforms.

King’s College Easter service has been a staple of the BBC lineup for more than a decade, having been shown on television since 2010.

Following the decision, critics have accused the BBC of deliberately abandoning its Christian audience.

Chief executive of Christian Concern Andrea Williams told the Telegraph: “The BBC’s motto, ‘Nation shall speak peace unto nation’, is Biblical in origin.

“The more the BBC seeks to forget and minimise the primary role of the Christian faith shaping this nation, the darker all things will become.

“Easter reminds us of Christ’s victory over death, which is a good-news message for us all.”

However, the BBC has rejected claims that it has ignored the Christian faith after dropping its Easter service.

According to the broadcaster, the Faith and Hope for Spring 2024 season will feature a “vibrant mix of programmes across TV and radio channels, shining a spotlight on faith at a time when many of the major religions are marking key moments in the calendar”.

Both of the BBC’s heads of religion and ethics for television and radio have said the broadcaster’s output will feature a “diverse range of content” for watchers and listeners.

Daisy Scalchi, head of religion and ethics on BBC Television, said: “This is such a special time of year and we’re delighted to work across our networks to bring viewers a diverse range of content that brings faith, belief and spirituality into focus.”

Tim Pemberton, the head of religion and ethics on BBC Audio, said: “I’m delighted to be bringing listeners such a wide range of special programming, with opportunities for worship and reflection, as well as some wonderful music.”

This year, the BBC is set to show a special performance of Bach’s St John Passion from Cardiff on BBC One on Easter Sunday, Pope Francis’s Easter message and blessing and a special edition of Songs of Praise from Canterbury.

Radio listeners will also have the chance to hear a Choral Evensong live from Canterbury Cathedral on Radio 3 and a Sunrise Service from Durham Cathedral on Radio 4.

Speaking about the story on GB News’ Headliners, Nick Dixon suggested the BBC has been “gradually erasing Christianity for decades”.

He said: “I've been renouncing Christians for decades, so it's ‘BBC abandoned Christianity after dropping traditional Easter service broadcast’, which they normally broadcast from Kings College, Cambridge.

“In addition to that, just as an extra little bit of salt in the wound, they, Alice Roberts, an atheist, was on the Good Friday edition of Desert Island Discs and chose not to take a Bible with her to the fictitious island. So instead, you know, they're not showing the usual thing.”

He added: “So, you know, enjoy Islam or enjoy this secular dystopia you're going to get as it is Christianity that made this country great.

“And now you're gonna get just awfulness. This is nothing new though. Read something like Peter Hitchens’s Rage Against God, they've been gradually erasing Christianity for decades.”

Adding his voice, Josh Howie said: “I think this desert island this thing is a really bad decision, the singing thing for the Easter service from Kings College.”

He continued: “I will say the BBC is of course there to reflect the audience. So there's a question here - Are they cutting these? They are actually.

“They do have a lot of other Christian programmes or Easter programmes, to be fair. But is it because they're taking their lead from the fact that there are less Christians now, which has been proven it's in decline? Or there's the other idea, of course, that is the decline in the programmes leading to a decline in Christianity.

“So really it's a chicken or the Easter egg.”

Archbishop of Canterbury’s Ecumenical Easter Letter 2024

When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” A second time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.” (John 21.15-17)

The confusion and hurt of Peter contrast strikingly with the plain instruction of Jesus. In almost his last appearance in the flesh, before his ascension, Jesus shares a moment of intimate friendship and a meal with some of his disciples by the Sea of Galilee. This seemingly simple occasion is laden with symbolism, as if basic, material things – the fish, the fire, the bread – and ordinary actions have themselves become parables of the care the disciples are to exercise for those who love and follow Jesus. Feed my sheep! So the master commanded, and so the Church has, in his footsteps, tried to do these last two millennia, and so it will continue to do.

But how complicated, incomplete, and unsatisfactory that pastoral witness and care of the Church has often proved to be! We have, time and again, turned bread into stones, wine into bitter gall, fire into torture and death. We have, over the centuries, turned on each other. We have neglected, ignored and persecuted in the name of love.

How bitter this last year seems to have been! In the heart of the Holy Land, slaughter and chaos have reigned. I was in Jerusalem in October, trying to support our Anglican communities there, and other Christian traditions, and to learn about the suffering of the people of Gaza and elsewhere. I was in Armenia in early October, after the mass exodus of Armenian families from Nagorno-Karabakh. I was in Ukraine again just two months ago, witnessing the desperate effects of war. For all the people caught up in these conflicts, just as for anyone injured and traumatised by violence, it must seem as if there can no end to it all, no resurrection.

But still, even in the midst of all of this, there is hope, because we know that God is there before us, in Jesus Christ, that great shepherd of the sheep. Christians live the realism of knowing that human ambitions, time and again, run into sand, and yet at the same time they also share profoundly the vision of hope Christ’s triumph over death brings to all people. So we cannot allow despair to poison our outlook on the world. It is a time of terrible conflict and danger, but our faith is in Christ the peacemaker and reconciler. This Easter, I pray that you will be strengthened in your faith, and blessed in your ministry, and that together we may learn this coming year what it means to feed Christ’s sheep.

+Justin Cantuar:

The Most Reverend and Right Honourable Justin Welby
Archbishop of Canterbury

Easter Message 2024 - Bishop of St Davids

My dear Sisters and Brothers,

Our faith is an Easter faith, Jesus is Risen from the dead! The tomb is empty, and our hope has become a reality. Today we can claim that new life and joy belongs to us, the battle has been fought and “death is swallowed up in victory” (1 Cor 15.54). Jesus lives! And the world needs to hear our Alleluia!

Today, more than ever, the world needs to be aware of the truth of the cross and the resurrection of Jesus, its effect on our lives and the hope that Christ’s redeeming love has on a divided, hopeless and broken world. Jesus’ resurrection brings an end to sin and death, to injustice; his love comforts the bereaved, binds the broken and opens our way to God. In Christ all things are made new and through him we are “born again”.

As we look at the world, we can see that the need for the Easter message is great. Since the end of the pandemic, it grieves me to think that the percentage of those who do not attend church or chapel is on the increase. Most people seem to have a residual belief in a divine being; however, it plays a very little part in their day-to-day lives. Even the rites of passage of birth, marriage, and death are becoming distant from the sacraments and pastoral ministry of the church. I am concerned that there are fewer young families, teenagers and children in our congregations, and that older members are feeling marginalised and undervalued; there is a general apathy which shadows everything.

We need to find ways of communicating the Joy of the Risen Christ anew and encourage people to participate in the full life and ministry of the church. I am mindful that at the heart of every community there is a church whose task it is to radiate the love of God and proclaim the Good News of the Gospel. As we celebrate Easter let us as a Diocese commit ourselves to not only proclaim the Risen life of Christ but share him and allow his life to live in us and revitalise our church communities.

For all of us, the work of preaching the Gospel starts on our own doorstep. In fact, attending church is one way of doing so that everyone can do. I remember hearing about a new vicar in a parish who decided to celebrate Communion every morning during Holy Week. The warden said it would be a waste of time. "No one will come," he said.

A young boy was listening, "I’ll come," he said, and he did so every morning. On the second morning, his parents came with him. By Wednesday morning, his school friends were there. His neighbours attended the Good Friday afternoon service and everyone at that church enjoyed a blessed Easter. This can happen in our churches, not only at Easter but throughout the year, should we choose this way of preaching the Gospel and sharing the life of Jesus.

I wish you a happy and blessed Easter,

+Dorrien Tyddewi