Bishop Rochus’ Easter message

Christmas and Easter events are two foundational pillars on which Christianity and the Christian faith is born, nurtured and celebrated annually for more than 2000 years.

Catholic Bishops Conference President, Bishop Rochus Josef Tatamai, said Christmas simply put is the event when humanity and Christians observe "God became flesh", God became one with us in our humanity entering into our human family and daily conditions.

“Easter on the other hand, is ‘man became God’.

“God who became flesh and lived out our human conditions and challenges, suffering, pain and hunger, rejection, abandonment and eventual death and buried as the natural pathway for all humans.

“Now as Christians we witness the preaching Jesus was crucified, died and buried now rose from death thus ‘man becomes God’. This completes the cycle.

"Christmas is when God became man (one with us) and Easter is when ‘man becomes God’ through the resurrection of Jesus Christ who as Christians also believe that He is truly God and is truly Man.

“Thus Christmas and Easter Celebrations become relevant and applicable to our human history as well as our daily lives.

“The story of Jesus as recorded and told by the four Gospels has relevance with every day application for our lives.”

1. Jesus' public ministry exposed so much of human cruelty and neglect with sometimes human traditions and religious institutions ignoring people's needs with less focus on their dignity, wellbeing and the common good of all people. The ongoing confrontation of Jesus with the Religious and civil authorities exposed the need for transparency, good governance and proper application of the rule of Law.

2. The misunderstanding of the entire mission of Jesus Christ which focuses on integral human development and total freedom as children of God while disciples trying to limit this only to human and politics with self-interests. 

3. The close associates of Jesus when the going gets tough and challenging chose to abandon him, betray him, deny him, disassociate themselves from him with the typical attitude "what is there for me, what can I get out of these?” Even the innocent question posed by Judas Iscariot "how much will you give me if I hand him over to you" underlines people's attitude to make quick money out of every dirty deal.

“The Easter Celebrations focus our attention on ourselves to be like Jesus Christ whose ultimate focus is on the good and wellbeing of others rather than on himself,” continued Bishop Rochus.

“Jesus comes to give us life in abundance, especially life after death which is eternal life so we too must focus our attention on both the physical and spiritual wellbeing of our people.

“May the spirit of Easter with Jesus Christ truly alive to die no more will be our motivation to be people who promote life in abundance and be people who care about integral human development and common good of all our brothers and sisters.

“May the Risen Christ this Easter give you his peace and courage to face the world and its challenges with confidence.”

Author: 
Press release