Easter
Sunday is an essential Christian holy day. Easter is a liturgical season
lasting approximately six weeks, starting at the most significant Sunday of the Catholic
liturgical year, when we celebrate Christians’ greatest confession of
faith – proclaiming Christ risen and alive in the life of Christians and in the
ecclesial community – and lasting until the solemnity of Pentecost.
Although
it is the most significant annual holy day for Catholic Christians, the
celebration of Easter has a universal message, i.e., a valid message for all
men and women of good will, from any location, race, religious creed, political ideology,
socio-educational level, social position, etc.
The
Spanish word for Easter, PASCUA, comes from a Hebrew word meaning "CROSSING
OVER". Easter was already celebrated by the men and women of the Old
Testament when they commemorated the "crossing" of the Red Sea (cf.
Ex 12-15), through which they were freed from the oppression to which they
had been subjected for several centuries by the Egyptians. Later, the men
and women of the Old Testament, converted now to Christianity, continued
celebrating Easter, but with a new essence and meaning: the triumph and
"transition" of life over death, the victory and "triumph" of
good over sin in the person of Jesus Christ. When Jesus Christ was
crucified (cf. Ac 5:30), the first Christians who witnessed
his Resurrection and confessed and proclaimed him as Living God (Mt
28:6) in their midst; these same first disciples made the transition from
the old to the new (2 Cor 5:17), from selfishness to love , from
those who are capable of recognizing themselves as brothers of the
same God and Father (Gal 4:6), from sadness to joy (Jn 20:1- 18),
from disbelief to peace (Jn 20:27), from cowardice to courage, from
life alone to an existence where we can share bread with others (Lk 24:13-35), from
the oppression of a life lived according to the law to a life lived
in service and freely and generously given toward others (Mt 16:25), especially to
those most in need (Mt 25:31ss).
This was
understood, lived and theologized, at the time, by men like Paul
of Tarsus or John the Apostle when they wrote that Easter
consists of the renewal of the mind (Rm 12:2) or in the
"crossing over" from death to life, if we love one another (1 Jn 3:14ss).
It is
enough to see and hear the news that the media and social
networks give us to make us aware of all the deep problems and serious
crises and conflicts now facing mankind in all the institutions that
make up society and in all its facets.
These are
conflicts that touch and involve the individual, the family, society,
international relations, etc. Problems, conflicts and crises that manifest
themselves in the loss of the value and meaning of life, in the solitude of
many, in the use of psycho-addictive substances , in
the breaking down of values, in the impermanence of family structures
(divorces, de facto unions, infidelities, lack of commitment in marital
couples, job instability, lack of social security for the family in many
countries, intergenerational conflicts between parents and children,
etc.); in
administrative corruption; in lack of public
services; unemployment; the loss of prestige, leadership and credibility
of the religious institutions governing moral and social values; the lack
of social opportunities for a personal and family life of dignity; the
loss in the quality of education; the
pursuit of personal and social fulfillment through hedonistic and pansexualist pleasure;
by recognizing selfishness and materialism as supreme values and
through abusive and confrontational power; in scandalous forms of social
inequality; injustices; a thousand forms of violence and death; drug
trafficking; arms races; exploitation, and irreversible damage to
ecosystems; internal and international war conflicts; famines; epidemics and
pandemics; moral relativism according to which nothing is worth anything or
everything is equal; and, a total lack of the existential meaning of
transcendence.
This list
of personal, family, social, national and world ills represents
the manifestations of a greater evil: the evil that lives within man, in the
very heart of the human being (cf. Mk 7:21ss). The crisis of structures is first and foremost a crisis of men and
women. The rotten fruits of our human coexistence and our societies are
the product of bad trees, with diseased sap. Because "the tree is known by its fruits ... " (Mt
7:15ss).
The first
and deepest causes of our personal and social discomfort must be sought in the
gaps, deficiencies and losses within the human spirit. While we have made significant advances in science, in technology,
in the capacity to telecommunicate amongst ourselves, in the globalization
of markets and in the accumulation of great capital and lifestyles full of
luxury and comfort, we have diminished the importance of the great principles
and values that define the essential,
intrinsic, innate spirit of the human being, that is, everything that makes us
truly "human" and not inhuman.
EASTER has
a message and a call for all to change and renew from
within, to improve everything within us. EASTER is an auspicious time to pause on our journey and to start
again. In
Pauline terminology, we may
cross over from the old man to the new man (cf. Col 3:10).
Today, the
greatest emergency facing society and humanity demands of every
human being an "Easter" experience, that is, an experience of
"crossing over" inhumane, sub-human, or less humane circumstances and
conditions to reach those that are more humane and worthy of people.
The desire for
everyone, around the planet, to build better societies and a better
world in which we achieve the happiness we relentlessly seek, challenges us all
to a daily and ongoing Easter experience: that of being better
human beings, better families, better professionals, better
citizens in order to build the apocalyptic utopia of
"a new heaven in a new land" (cf. Rev 21:1-8).
Thus, the
celebration of Christian EASTER is not merely a Catholic liturgical
celebration, but also a birthright of all humanity, a call to
all and a daily task while we are living: to be men and women, new and renewed,
capable of transforming ourselves, our personal lives, and through those, our
institutions and social structures to be more just, more solidary, and more
humane.
HAPPY EASTER!
