Happy Easter

“Easter” likely originates from the Old English ‘Ēastre,’ stemming from a Proto-Germanic root ‘aust’ meaning “east” or “dawn,” symbolizing new life. While this Germanic influence persists in English, many European languages use the word “Pascha,” derived from the Hebrew ‘Pesach’ (Passover), emphasizing Christ as the Passover Lamb.

On Easter Sunday, we celebrate an unprecedented event – ‘death ending in life.’ Human language struggles to capture its depth; we attempt phrases such as “an end ending in a beginning,” “hope dispelling hopelessness,” and “life fully enlivened.”

‘Jesus rose from the dead’ is the crux of our faith. Indeed, the very foundation of early Christian worship was the “celebration of the Resurrection.”

Had Jesus been dead and gone, his teachings and values would have survived only as artifacts in archaic scrolls, not in human hearts and spirits. But with Jesus came back to life, what he said and what he did, and remain living realities that continue to transform the world to this day.

While the Resurrection is a core dogma of the Church, it is equally a part of our everyday experience. Its reflections are everywhere: when we overcome temptation, when we conquer feelings of hatred and division, when we leap into the darkness with hope, and when we triumph over the fear of death.

New life arose from the empty tomb. Thousands of people still visit Jerusalem to look inside the empty tomb; some find hope there, while others remain skeptical. When the Apostle John entered the tomb, he SAW and BELIEVED. Let us do the same. Belief in the Resurrection is the foundation of our faith in this life and the source of eternal life in the next.