EASTER MESSAGE 2005

No matter what the experience is, everyone deserves to be greeted with Peace! Peace unites people, just as the Resurrection of Christ brought the Apostles together.

The disciples discovered brotherhood again after the Resurrection Jesus from the dead. Gone were the insults and ambition; the blame and accusations were not longer there, too. Those who lost courage and those who escaped when the suffering of the Messiah was at its greatest, were back.

Cowards and the unfaithful were not blamed. The executioners were forgiven for not fully knowing what they did. The consoling words of Jesus to all were, “Peace! Peace be with you.” After the triumph of Jesus, we can all be brothers again.

Peace is possible through forgiveness and reconciliation. (Pope John Paul II, Day of Peace Message, 2002) But peace is also the fruit of justice. For as long as humans are deprived, their dignity tarnished, and the poor are neglected, the people, the family they belong to and the world will not know peace. Let us together further sharpen our sensitivity to the hunger for peace in our society, in our country.

Violence in any form cannot be an alternative to justice or to peace, because it wipes out the very values humans live for, including life itself. The Lord Jesus Christ showed that beyond the violent madness of the cross, there is life.

After the resurrection, the Lord showed that the only option for sinful humanity in order to proceed in the common journey to “fullness of life” or human development, is the path of Peace.

May the Blessings of Christ’s Peace be always with you. God bless.

(SGD) + GAUDENCIO B. ROSALES, D.D.
Archbishop of Manila