The meaning
of Easter

FOR some people Easter is nothing more than a holiday: chocolate, a weekend break, a day at the races.

They live in a secular world where religion is an anachronism, an absurdity from the middle ages when people were roasted alive if they didn’t believe in pixies and goblins.

The fact that the Catholic Church covered up the child abuse scandal and the hierarchy went into denial when the abuse was made known to the world, has not helped.

Instead of confessing its guilt, the Church seemed to be denying Christ, as Peter did on that first Easter.

For many people the Catholic Church has seriously lost its way. Many have turned away. And Easter means little or nothing to them.

But, as Fr Michael Cusack states in our Talking Point column this week (Page 9): Easter is a time when we go through the darkness towards the illumination of the Resurrection.

This is why it is the high point in the Christian calendar.

“It is a time,” Fr Cusack says, “when people know they can live in hope. It’s an attitude, a willingness to let some light in. It’s a festival of Christian people.

The Easter message is about hope.”

And perhaps the new Pope can restore the confidence in the Catholic Church which so many people have lost. And bring about necessary change.

Happy Easter.