EU Bishops share message of hope for Easter amid Covid-19

image COMECE

Source: COMECE

In a joint message for the upcoming Easter, the Conference of European Churches (CEC) together with the Bishops' Conferences of the European Union (COMECE) affirm sheer hope in Christ's resurrection in the time of the Covid-19 pandemic. Addressing all people in Europe, especially the poor and the most vulnerable, CEC President Rev Christian Krieger and COMECE President Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich SJ issued the following message today:

Easter reminds us of the passage of God's chosen people from slavery, oppression, and despair in Egypt, to liberation, joy and hope in the promised land.

Easter celebrates Christ's passover from rejection, abandonment of his closest disciples, humiliation, his passion and death on Good Friday, to life, joy, and victory on Easter Sunday.

The passing over from despair to joy, from death to life, involves going through adversities, doubt, setback, suffering and agony. Living in confinement for a year, experiencing illness and anxiety, witnessing bereavement and loss adds new meaning to the anticipation of Resurrection this Easter.

As churches and Christians in Europe, we too are passing over from isolation, loss and anxiety to healing, recovery and a renewed life, where 'death is swallowed up in victory' (1 Corinthians 15:54).

Each one of us received the gift of that new life and the power to accept it and live by it. It is a gift which radically alters our attitude toward the realities of this world, including illness and death.

By his own passing, Christ transformed death into a passage leading to the Reign of God. Evil and physical death no longer have the final say in life. In Christ our lives are filled with a promise of real life, abounding in hope and everlasting joy.

May the hope of His Resurrection sustain us and keep us in the time of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Christ is Risen!