Transcript
At this year’s Easter celebrations across the Archdiocese, more than four hundred and fifty people will be welcomed into the Catholic Church. Nearly half of those will be baptised, formally entering the Christian community for the first time and taking their place at the table of the Eucharist. Others have already been baptised in another Christian Church, and have now discerned that they are being called to live out their Christian vocation as part of the Catholic Church. This response is a witness to the vitality of our parish communities and their effectiveness in proclaiming the Gospel and living out Jesus’ mission. The experience of liturgy, service and welcome in our parishes is attracting others to ‘come and see’, and is giving them an opportunity to hear God’s Word, to respond to His call, and to live as part of the Christian people. At the same time, those who are being baptised and received into the Church this Easter enrich us in turn. They are reminders and models for us of Christian discipleship. They are inspiring examples of what it means to open our hearts to hear God’s Word, to enter a journey of conversion, and to commit ourselves to follow Jesus as part of His Body, the Church. As we accompany them to the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist, we are renewed in our own baptismal participation in Jesus’ life-giving death and resurrection, which is at the heart of what it means to be Christian. We give thanks for God’s abundant love in sending His Son amongst us. We celebrate Jesus’ utter faithfulness to living out God’s love for us, even in face of the suffering and death inflicted on Him by those captive to the power of sin. And we proclaim God’s raising Jesus to the new life of the resurrection, which is His triumphant victory over the power of sin. We first enter into that Easter mystery at our baptism and then we seek to make it the pattern of our lives throughout our journey of discipleship. Each celebration of the Eucharist is a memorial of Jesus’ death and resurrection, as we are nourished by the gift of His Body and Blood at the Last Supper and called to give of ourselves in the same way. Our Easter celebration of that mystery offers comfort, joy and hope, as we proclaim the God who accompanies us through the darkest night of the cross, and brings new life and hope in the dawn of Easter Sunday morning. I wish you and your families the joy and hope that Jesus’ resurrection opens for each of us.