2024-04-01 02:32:01
Easter is the festival of peace, but the present is characterized by war and terror. This contrast determines the Easter sermons. The Christian message is therefore all the more relevant.
In the face of terror and war, the bishops emphasized in their Easter sermons the consoling and inspiring power of faith. The world is “marked by war, terror and brutal violence,” said Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki in his Easter sermon in Cologne Cathedral, according to the text of the speech that was distributed in advance.
“In addition to Russia’s war against Ukraine on our doorstep, which violates international law, the country in which the Risen Christ greets his disciples on Easter morning with the words: “Peace be with you” is also affected.” No conflict can be solved with war, terror and violence, said Woelki. Easter therefore challenges us to stand up for a better, fairer and more peaceful world.
“One crisis after another”
The chairman of the German Bishops’ Conference, Georg Bätzing, admitted that love and non-violence won in the end is difficult to believe given the worrying conditions day in and day out. “It takes a long learning curve to get there.” But Easter in particular is the counter-story to the crisis-ridden present, emphasized the President of the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland, Thorsten Latzel. “We are currently experiencing one crisis after another, terrible violence in Ukraine, in Israel/Palestine and in terrorist attacks,” said Latzel in his Easter message. “And we are experiencing how populists are trying to divide society.” The positive message of Jesus gives people the strength to stand up against it. “For me personally, this is the deepest reason for my hope: that I can stand up myself to oppose hate together with others.”
Easter is the festival that overcomes borders, said Essen Bishop Franz-Josef Overbeck in his Easter message. Much of what is currently happening socially, politically and also militarily gives the impression “as if it were driven by fears that have paralyzing power.”
However, the Christian belief in the resurrection can give rise to a strength “that helps to overcome evil, end wars and preserve the dignity of freedom in everything, against the madness and terror of injustice, the war machine and tyranny.”
“Ghosts of the Past”
The Catholic Archbishop of Munich and Freising, Cardinal Reinhard Marx, spoke in his sermon of a threat from “ghosts of the past.” In view of a “return of violence and war, of hatred, polarization and conspiracy theories,” the feeling could easily arise that the “ghosts of the past” can never be shaken off, he said at Easter Vigil in Munich’s Frauenkirche.
“The course of world history is not always just progress towards the better. There are also setbacks and regressions in personal and social life,” said Marx, but also emphasized the Easter message as a message of hope: “Even if again and again “No matter how strong the countermovements arise,” “the death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth introduced a dynamic into history that can never be taken back.”
Christians celebrate at Easter that, according to biblical tradition, Jesus rose from the dead three days after his execution.