Easter messages highlight love, understanding and charity

“The Christian message of love and understanding can help much in the process of reconciliation now taking place in our country to take us towards a lasting peace and unity,” President Mahinda Rajapaksa said in his Festival of Easter message.

Services to mark Good Friday were held in Catholic Churches throughout the country. This is a scene captured at St. John the Baptist Church, Modara Pic by Nissanka Meegoda.

Mr. Rajapaksa, wishing the Christian community a happy and peaceful Easter, emphasized that the Christian message of tolerance and understanding can also help free people and nations from the many conflicts that threaten peace today. The Easter message 2012 released by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference in Sri called upon people to share in the new life of the resurrection with all those who suffer the pains of death in its multiple forms in our society.

The message, by Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith on behalf of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference, said that if true harmony and reconciliation are to become a reality, we need to recognize the many pains of the poor and the afflicted in our society today.

“We invite the faithful to pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit, who is the gift of the Risen Saviour, for our leaders and our people so that we would be engaged in effective and determined efforts at reconciliation, harmony and unity in our country. This obligation is all the more upon us as we live in the post war context of Sri Lanka since reconciliation is the greatest challenge of the hour.

True reconciliation and our journey to the future demands that we acknowledge the past however painful it might be, learn the lessons we ought to, redress the injustices perpetrated wherever they may be and be determined not to repeat the same mistakes of the past. We are duty bound to identify the many wounds of our society, both past and present, and do all we can to heal them. Only such an option would enable us to move on effectively to the future.

Therefore, let us not merely recall the historical resurrection of the Lord but really and truly come to experience today the new life it offers. Thus such a celebration would affect our lives both as individuals and as community enabling us to experience the new life the resurrection offers,” the Easter message said.