Limerick Bishops share joint Easter message

Frances Watkins, 28 Mar

THE below is a joint Easter message from Bishops Brendan Leahy,

Catholic Bishop of Limerick, and Michael Burrows, Church of Ireland

Bishop of the Diocese of Tuam, Limerick and Killaloe

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One of the things that intrigues one each Easter as one reads the

Gospels is that in the original version of Mark, the first Gospel to be

written, the risen Jesus is never seen.

The Resurrection is certainly a reality, the women at the tomb despite

their fear have seen the evidence for it, but they are reminded that

the risen Christ has already gone from the place and is now ahead of

them.

Their task is to be one of pursuit; the narrative ends abruptly as they

realise that to follow Jesus means never ceasing to be on the move.

Throughout the centuries since the first Easter the experience of

Christian disciples has been largely similar.

We spend our lives in pursuit of the Risen Jesus, magnetised by his

integrity and his example, almost feeling that he is just around the

next corner.

Wherever we travel, whatever places we visit and people we encounter,

we have an uncanny sense that Jesus has been there already.

A retired missionary sister pointed out many years ago that she assumed

her role was to bring Jesus to where he was unknown.

That was indeed in many ways her task, yet she readily admitted that

all her life she never once felt she arrived in a place where Jesus,

always forging ahead, had not already been and mysteriously left his

imprint.

Those whose vocation and joy it is to pursue the living Christ whom no

tomb could contain must be open to the possibility that they will

encounter him already present in the most surprising of people and

circumstances.

He has already beaten a trail for his followers through the complex

maze of life; we must be ready to encounter him in the stranger we meet

on the way, the person who shows us selfless acts of kindness, the

newcomer in our company who challenges our deepest cultural

assumptions.

To be Easter people is to be people who never cling to the securities

of the past but who embrace the future that is already God’s with

positive expectation. There is no path, however thorny, for us to

explore that Jesus has not already trodden.

This year as it happened we celebrated St Patrick’s Day almost as a

prelude to Holy Week and Easter.

Patrick prayed that he too would encounter Christ in the stranger, and

he returned to the land of his previous captivity keenly aware that he

was being called back by a people who somehow already anticipated the

richness of the Gospel that he would share fully with them.

READ MORE: WATCH: Easter, the great message of hope for us all –

Limerick bishop

And for the Irish themselves, this godly immigrant to their island home

was to be the most radical and wholesome influencer that they had ever

known. We just never know the jewels that newcomers among us carry with

them until we make the effort to look.

We wish you a truly blessed Easter season, a season spent in pursuit of

the Risen One who is always ahead, who leaves us breathless as we

pursue him, who meets us in the most amazing people and situations.

Truly , each time we leave the Eucharist we who seek to know the risen

Lord in the breaking of the bread are also SENT , energised, in pursuit

of a living Christ who is never trapped in history but is always ahead

challenging us to follow, and promising us eye-opening encounters if we

dare to do so.