Monday, September 06, 2010 ARCHBISHOP’S EASTER GREETING 2008 “EASTER IS A WONDERFUL AFFIRMATION OF FAITH” Dear Faithful People of the Archdiocese, Rejoice, heavenly powers! Sing choirs of angels! Exult, all creation around God’s throne! Jesus Christ our King has risen! Sound the trumpet of Salvation! The above words come from the Easter proclamation and are sung each Easter. The Easter liturgies are bursting with life and colorful and exciting resurrection stories. One of my favorites is the story of the disciples meeting Jesus on the road to Emmaus. It is highly charged with emotion. The disciples feel saddened and abandoned; a stranger opens their minds and hearts to the Scriptures; friendship deepens through sharing a meal; and finally the disciples discover Jesus in the breaking of the bread. That evening walk with Jesus changed their lives forever and the disciples, we are told, immediately set out to share that good news with their friends. The celebration of Easter is a wonderful affirmation of faith as it speaks to us of the new life that Jesus won for us over sin and death. Perhaps during the past year, like the disciples on the road, you have experienced stress, grief, anxiety, doubt, fear, etc. All of these form a part of the story of each human being because what is true of Jesus is also true of all of us. Jesus, dead and risen, wants to say something to what we experience in our life stories. These stories of our life are to be told always in the light of Jesus raised from the dead. That Jesus was raised from the dead is more than a happy ending to a sad and tragic story. It is the deed of a faithful and life-giving God who will not allow us to be overcome by the burdens of life. The heart of the Resurrection of Jesus says is that the anxiety, pain, anger, etc., we experience does not have the last word about us. A faithful and life-giving God has the last word, and His word is always a word of the goodness of life, of peace, of hope. Alleluia, He is Risen! May your Easter be blessed with true peace and real joy and may you experience new life. For a joy-filled Easter, I am, Most Reverend Martin Currie Archbishop of St. John’s