The National Chaplains Easter Message

And so once again Easter has arrived and with it the joy and the promise of the resurrection. I’m not sure if it’s an age thing but Lent seems to have moved along at a reasonable pace this year and interestingly travelled along a similar path to Ramadan too, which for our Muslim brothers and sisters is also a sacred time of fasting, prayer and almsgiving.

I think it’s good, especially in times like these, that we can remember and hopefully build on those areas that we do indeed have in common with members of other faiths and beliefs. It seems to me that so often we live amongst many contradictions and much fickleness in our daily lives, and the liturgy for Holy Week which leads us to Easter Week is equally so, from the welcome of "Hosannah" as Jesus enters Jerusalem on Passion/Palm Sunday to the cry of "Crucify" on Good Friday and then the tremendous joy and wonderment of the Resurrection on Easter Sunday morning when the tomb lies empty.

The Gospel of St. Matthew reminds us of the angels’ words to the women who had come to tend Jesus’ grave, “Do not to be afraid. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said”. It is within that emptiness of the tomb that our hearts are truly filled. The grief we may feel at various times in our lives, is somehow cushioned slightly in the knowledge, belief or even hope that those we love are also raised with Jesus too.

And so, with that same hope and joy in mind, may I wish you and your families, a very Blessed Easter.

Stay with us Lord on our Journey. Alleluia!

Fr. Barry Lomax

National Chaplain & Fellow of the Catholic Police Guild of England & Wales.