Exclusive
“To keep hope alive is not naïve; it is an act of faith,” Bishop Niall Coll of Raphoe has told The Irish Catholic. The bishop said that with all the suffering of wars around the world, “it is easy to feel overwhelmed, to the point of paralysis, and to surrender to despair.” However, Easter “calls us to resist that temptation.”
As wars and “violent rhetoric” scar the world, “the message of Easter speaks with quiet but enduring force,” Bishop Coll said. “Easter reminds us that even in the darkest moments, grace is quietly at work, drawing life out of what seems lifeless… For hope is at the very heart of the Easter mystery. Hope is the quiet, persistent light that no darkness can overcome.”
In solidarity with Christians in the Holy Land, Bishop Denis Nulty of Kildare and Leighlin suggested “that every parish have an oil lamp” lit in every ceremony during Holy Week, and to follow the Cardinal’s request to pray the rosary. In that way, Irish faithful “would be at one with the Christians of the West Bank.”
Archbishop Eamon Martin of Armagh also mentioned the “dark clouds” of war and violence, and “although we cannot hear from Ireland the booms and sirens of warfare,” the “desperate cries of bereaved of displaced families” shatter the illusion that “‘modern warfare’ can be clinical or contained.” For the archbishop, all the darkness and wars are just more reason to “‘hold on to hope’ this Easter.”
Bishop Fintan Gavin of Cork and Ross said that even “as we look out on a world that can feel deeply fractured”, by war and suffering, one should not give up trust and hope. “Easter tells us that God does not abandon what is broken, but brings new life from it.” While Bishop Fintan Monahan of Killaloe said that “Faith needs building up, and it is in reminding ourselves of the true meaning of Easter that our faith will hold us back from abandoning the spiritual aspects of Easter.”
“A true Christian might set themselves the equivalent task of an Easter egg hunt on Easter Sunday by seeking out the places where our faith is weakest,” Bishop Monahan said.
In the face of so many difficulties worldwide, people desire “that ‘things can be better in our world’”, Bishop Martin Hayes of Kilmore said, which could be seen in the number of people travelling and gathering to watch the World Cup qualification semifinals last week. He said that the sports competition “unites people throughout the world,” and united people can overcome anything. “Jesus, who is still with us in our restlessness, has won for us a hope that endures. Jesus has gotten us beyond results of matches and remains with us in our struggles in this life.”
