Bishop's Easter Message to Parish Communities 2010

26 March 2010

My dear Priests and People


I write to wish you all a truly blessed Easter. The Resurrection of Jesus is the very foundation of our faith and it is like a lighthouse, beaming forth the light of hope.

Hope is one of those three pivotal virtues we live by - faith, hope and love. Faith is what enables us to believe in our God, love is the bond which keeps us close to God, but it is hope that helps us to keep believing and keep loving, when darkness descends or the cross becomes too heavy.

Jesus found it difficult to believe that God was with Him, or perhaps, even that God loved Him when he cried out from the cross 'My God, my God, why have you abandoned me". (Matthew 24.46)

The Resurrection was God's answer to Jesus' desperate call. Easter is the sign for us that God will never abandon us, that there will never be a time when we should give up hope.

May you - in your families, in your religious communities, in parishes and throughout the diocese, find joy and gentle peace this Easter.

Thank you for being people of hope who can say "Jesus is Lord - He is Risen, Alleluia!"

Yours sincerely

 


+ Brian Heenan
Bishop of Rockhampton