'BE PEOPLE OF THE RESURRECTION': ARCHBISHOP NEILL'S
EASTER MESSAGE

In his Easter Message, the Archbishop of Dublin, the Most Revd Dr John Neill says that followers of Jesus Christ are called to be “people of the Resurrection – people who bring hope, forgiveness and a fresh start wherever they go. This is just what we need in this land today.”

Describing the Easter story as “more than a tale with a happy ending” he continues “it is about new light shining in the world. Darkness is an everyday experience for many people and it is for them that the Risen Jesus brings hope. Such hope is more often than not conveyed by those who have caught a glimpse of this hope in their own lives. The freedom to live, the freedom to love and to be loved, the freedom to see joy breaking out in times of sorrow, is each in its own way a sign of Resurrection.”

EASTER MESSAGE FROM THE ARCHBISHOP OF DUBLIN

The Raising of Jesus Christ from the dead is at the very centre of Christian faith. The Easter story is more than a tale with a happy ending, it is rather the affirmation that God has the power to give new life to that which the world would destroy. It is about new light shining in the darkness of this world.

Darkness is an everyday experience for many people, and it is for them that the Risen Jesus brings hope. Such hope is more often than not conveyed by those who have caught a glimpse of this hope in their own lives. The freedom to live, the freedom to love and to be loved, the freedom to see joy breaking out in times of sorrow, is each in its own way a sign of Resurrection.

Even his closest friends were frequently slow to recognise Jesus raised from the dead, but the joy of that first Easter was that he reached out to them in a word, by a gesture, or in some other special way.

Easter tells us of a the God who in Jesus calls all who would be his followers to be people of the Resurrection – people who bring hope, forgiveness and a fresh start wherever they go. This is just what we need in this land today.

- ENDS –