Easter Message

Meaningful Easter Celebration

          The liturgical calendar had a new meaning after I had completed my studies on liturgy during my seminary days. The two important seasons in the Catholic Church are the advent and lent, which culminated in two important and meaningful events in the life of Christ and celebration in lives of the followers of Christ.

          While advent is the time when “waiting” and “expectation” are the key words, when we wait with hope for “God to come in search of us”. Lent is the time when we are like pilgrims praying, fasting, giving alms, doing penance and many other Lenten practices, through which “we go in search of God”. The time spend meaningfully during lent will be the fruits of Easter.

          The celebration of the Pascal Mystery, the Holy Week is a powerful, relevant and meaningful event in the lives of all Christians. During my seminary days, I used to be the master of ceremony for the holy week celebrations. During my first year a lot of time was spent on preparing the commentary, but, during the next two years the holy week meant the most important, relevant and participative celebration. During the fourth year of theology, I was the main celebrant for the Easter Vigil Service. Looking back at those events meant a preparation and participation in a meaningful way.

          Easter is the most meaningful celebration in the Catholic Church. The time we spent meaningfully in spiritual preparation is culminated during the Easter celebration. It is a time for us to rejoice. We rejoice that the Lord is risen and we share this joy and happiness with our friends, neighbors and with every one around. The experience of joy is doubled when we enjoy and share with others.

          Easter is a time for us to thank God for the wonderful gifts given to us. During the entire year we pray to God for many blessings, guidance, inspiration, support and enlightenment. For all that God has been to us we pour out our gratitude to God. The spiritual renewal and transformation is experienced when we complete our the Lenten season and so we surrender and offer ourselves to God in thanksgiving.

          It is also a time for us to deepen our faith. If we do not believe in the resurrection, then our faith is in vain. It is a personal experience of deepening one’s faith in God and the eternal plan that God has for all of us. We are constantly reminded of the fact that our eternal home is heaven. We are only pilgrims here on earth. We live in faith that one day we would rise with Christ and be with Him in heaven. This deepening of faith is a meaningful experience of Christians.

It gives us hope. Any event, incident or experience we may go through, but ultimately the unshakeable hope that God has a definite plan for me and this plan God continues to reveal. The most meaningful experience is giving us hope, that nothing can distract us from this hope.

 Easter is the greatest miracle in the life of Christ. The relevance of Easter is that God intends to work this miracle in our own life. Every time we reflect on Easter events, we realize deeper meaning of God’s plan in our life and Christ’s personal commitment to each one of us and our own meaningful and relevant participation our the Easter Celebrations.

Fr. Amirtha Raj, OP.