Our Easter In A Time Of Adversity And Hope

by Admin · April 12, 2020

Painted by William Adolphe Bouguereau

Guest editorial by Sheila Pires – ‘I have seen the Lord,” announced Mary Magdalene to the disciples.

The last weeks of Lent have put many of us to the test. We found ourselves having to walk the talk, from reciting prayers to actually having conversations with God and with Mary.

Parents learned how to be catechists to their children, and we learned how to pray together.

Now, it wasn’t a question of making time but of making use of the time we have—and to make it count.

With so many households headed by single parents—mainly mothers—it is women, like Mary Magdalene, who are announcing to their loved ones this Easter that “Jesus is alive”.

Once again women have followed in the footsteps of their foremothers in the early Church as they prayed to God the Father.

During this Covid-19 pandemic we have learned to pray in solidarity with one another.

We have learned to be compassionate, especially with those who are less fortunate than we are: the vulnerable elderly, the pregnant woman at the shop, the disabled and the migrant who earns on a daily basis if he or she finds a casual job for that day.

We have learned to care for one another.

The lockdown is teaching us to come back to the Lord. It is teaching us to learn to live within our means. And it is teaching us to spend good-quality time with family—a family that prays together can never be broken.

And through the daily Mass in the chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae residence in the Vatican, Pope Francis encouraged us to trust in the Lord wholeheartedly.

And so this Easter, and when we emerge, eyes blinking, from the lockdown, let us continue in that path. Let our good deeds not be in vain.

God has given humanity a chance to start afresh, to make things right. Jesus’ Resurrection gives us hope, hope to continue to fully trust in the Lord.

Sheila Pires is the presenter of the “Catholic View” programme on Radio Veritas.