Easter does not really work magic

Two thousand years after the Resurrection, the human journey is still marked by grief and anguish just as it is by joy and happiness. However, for believers, this grief and joy has a different meaning than it did before Christ’s resurrection.

Without Christ’s sacrifice and resurrection, life would be without real hope, and human destiny would end only in death. Christ’s resurrection gave us the guarantee that evil would not triumph over good, and hate would not prevail over love. It gave us the guarantee that history is not on a road leading to nowhere.

Though the basic meaning of Easter is constant, no two celebrations of Easter are the same, as they happen in different socio-personal contexts. As a result, we experience Easter’s meaning through the filter of our own particular experiences.

We are not the same people we were last year. Life brings with it new joys, disappointments, successes and failures. These change us. Are we living these experiences truly imbued with the liberating love and the comforting hope that the Risen Christ exudes?

We celebrate this year’s Easter during an intense referendum campaign which by its nature is a divisive experience. Practising Catholics, people of no faith, and those of different political persuasions militate in both sides. Are all efforts being made so that the divisive element is kept to the minimum?

The Risen Lord teaches us to choose people over arguments. Intolerance is the antithesis of respect. It is a caricature to frame the debate in a ‘God vs Satan’ or the ‘Enlightened vs the retrograde’ setting. Unfortunately the debate is characterised by a media blitz that systematically demonises people in the anti-divorce lobby.

The Church, on the other hand, has to lead by example and pay attention not to win the battle and lose the war. It has to pay attention not to cross dangerous lines that open new wounds. Unfortunately, such a line was unnecessarily and insensitively crossed during the Duluri procession. Meanwhile, the spirit of a crusade is filling the hearts of many zealots.

The prospect of hefty rise in the number of irregular migrants coming to Malta is challenging the country’s Christian fabric. The spirit of the Risen Lord is totally absent from the myriad xenophobic and racist comments that pepper the debate and attitude of many (I fear, most of us) on irregular migration.

Why is the institutional Church not placing as much emphasis on this problem as it is about divorce legislation? How can Catholics look into the eyes of these poor migrants and harbour sentiments of disgust, not to say hate?

As Pope Benedict said, Easter does not give us magical solutions for the problems we experience but shows us the path that redeems us from the evil within and around us:

“Remembering the mysteries of Christ also means a willing and complete adherence to the history of today, convinced that when we celebrate, it is reality.

“Let us include in our prayers the terrible facts and situations that afflict our brothers across the world. We know that hate, division and violence never have the last word in historical events.

“These holy days reawaken a great hope: Christ was crucified, yet he rose again and conquered the world.

“Love is stronger than hate, it has triumphed and we should affiliate ourselves with this victory of love. We should therefore start again from Christ and work together with him for a world founded on peace, justice and love.”

I wish readers a happy Easter, that is, an Easter that they can translate into each moment, experience and relationship they have in their lives.

joseph.borg@um.edu.mt