Cardiff - Menevia: Archbishop Mark O'Toole's Easter Message

Archbishop Mark O'Toole

Source: CBCEW

Archbishop Mark opened his Easter message by drawing on Ted Hughes' poem The Horses - set in that deep, cold hour before dawn, when darkness is at its deepest and the frost at its most intense. He acknowledged the weight many people are carrying right now: war in the Middle East and Ukraine, famine in Sudan, rising fuel costs, pressure on families. "It may feel very dark," he said. But then came the heart of his message:

"What we need to remember on this Easter morning is that the Lord rose from the dead in the darkness."

Archbishop Mark reflected on Mary Magdalene, who came to the tomb before dawn - in grief, in the dark - and found something that changed everything. The tomb was empty. The angels declared that Christ had risen. And then he appeared to her personally, calling her by name, and sending her out as the first witness of the Resurrection.

When the risen Christ appeared to his apostles, his first words were simple: "Peace be with you." That same peace, Archbishop Mark said, is what we all need now.

"Even when our personal experience or our world seems to be at its darkest, the risen Lord breaks into that darkness. He brings goodness out of evil, light out of darkness, life from death."

A Wish for Easter
"Death does not have the final word. Darkness is overcome."

That is the Easter message - honest, grounded, and genuinely hopeful for a troubled world.

Happy Easter - Pasg Hapus - from the Archdiocese of Cardiff-Menevia.