Easter begins very early in the morning when it is still dark so the Easter experience is in fact an invitation OUT of darkness INTO the light of a new day. Furthermore, the Risen Jesus first appears not to “the heavies” like the 12 apostles but to Mary Magdalene who is one of the little people. Easter begins in the dark and with someone living on the margins of society.

Sceptics demand evidence and proof that Jesus rose from the dead. Well what do we have?

Happy Easter to all our friends and readers of ‘In the Word’.

There’s nothing quite like Easter to renew and reinvigorate our faith. The empty tomb, the appearances of the Risen Lord, and finally, the penny dropping with Jesus’ followers, that the Scriptures have been fulfilled in Him.

For more than 1500 years the first Sunday after Easter had been known in the Liturgical Books as “Sunday in White Garments -- Dominica in Albis”.

Pope Francis in his Apostolic Exhortation, ‘The Joy of the Gospel’, states, “There are Christians whose lives seems like Lent without Easter”. Are we that?

Palm Sunday commemorates the triumphant entry of Christ into Jerusalem, just days before He was to be crucified.

By the time this reflection appears in the newsletter, we are well into the Easter Season, in fact almost towards the end of it. However, the message of Easter which proclaims the Good News of the Resurrection of Christ is by no means a message that has an expiration date.

Indeed, the entire Christian religion is founded on this very message that must be ceaselessly proclaimed all year round. Day after day, year after year, generation after generation, Christians are asked to witness to the truth of the Christ event of suffering, death and resurrection.

When I was learning how to drive, my instructor insisted that before changing lanes or before entering the traffic, it was not enough to look at the side mirrors but also to turn my head to the back of my shoulder so that I could cover my “blind spot”.

We are in the joyous season of Easter and today we are invited to share this joy with the Apostles of Jesus, especially Thomas, who struggled to believe that Jesus is alive.

In each of the four gospels there are wonderful resurrection stories in which we see the early followers of Christ struggling to grasp the fact and the meaning of the resurrection of Christ.

Life presents to us many Good Fridays, in the form of obstacles, helplessness and brokenness. But what brings us to Easter Sunday is our understanding that we don’t get upset with the little hardships in life because our life’s journey is like a road and difficulties are like humps. They help us to avoid dangerous accidents.

So, learning to enjoy the challenges of life and moving on is the key to eventually arriving at Easter.