Bishop Brendan Leahy has published a short video urging people to revisit the true meaning of Easter over these days so that they can, in a difficult world, see the message of Eternal hope.
In his video, Bishop Leahy invites us to celebrate this most sacred week in the liturgical calendar, and to reflect on the meaning of this momentous season for the world over.
It is, Bishop Leahy says, a time when we go through a full gamut of emotions from the ultimate sacrifice of Christ being killed to the joy of His resurrection, which is the great message of hope to us all.
Bishop Leahy takes us through Holy Week and the significance of each day, starting with Palm Sunday; the changing Scriptural readings of the week; Wednesday marks the betrayal of Jesus by Judas, as well as the celebration in the evening of “the wonderful diocesan occasion of the Chrism Mass” in Saint John’s Cathedral, Limerick; the end of Lent on Holy Thursday when Bishop Leahy will celebrate Mass of the Lord’s Supper in the Cuan Mhuire addiction centre in Limerick, which marks the beginning of the Easter Triduum of Good Friday (when we celebrate the Stations/Way of the Cross), Holy Saturday and culminating in the high point of the Resurrection on Easter Sunday. Bishop Leahy will be celebrating Mass in the prison on Easter Sunday.
Bishop Leahy concludes his video, “So what does this week tell us? It tells us that life is a journey. That there will be hardships. There will be crosses to bear. It tells us that there are people who will always be with us, to help us, to carry any cross we are given; our family, our friends.”
“It tells us that there is always hope. Hope of new beginnings. Hope given to us by the great Risen Lord. Above all, it tells us that God is always with us,” Bishop Leahy says.