2022 EASTER MESSAGE

My brothers and sisters in the Risen Christ!

For the past three days, we entered into the mystery of the passion and death of our Lord Jesus Christ, a sacrifice, a dying which is a sacrificial offering for our salvation.

And, today, Easter Sunday, we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus who promised that in dying He would rise again on the third day. And what does it mean? What is the first fruit of this dying? It is the gift of new life, the gift of new life to all of us, the gift of new life with which we enter and participate in the resurrection of Jesus.

That is what Saint Paul says, “Just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life” (Romans 6:4)

Caceres Archbishop Rolando J. Tirona, OCD, DD, blesses the church goers on as he walks to the sanctuary for the Eucharistic Celebration on Palm Sunday at the Naga Metropolitan Cathedral. (photo credit: Caceres Commission on Communications)

And what is this newness? It is not a newness just of the mind but most especially a newness of our heart because the resurrection of Jesus is experienced not by our minds but this is experienced in our hearts. When we embrace, accept and live the risen Christ, then we experience newness of heart and newness of life.

The risen Christ speaks to us of our own being new, new in mind, new in heart, and most especially new in our actions and the way we live our lives. At the same time it also a newness of relationship as the Lord has told us to live our lives in charity, in love. Our experience of the risen Christ impels us to reach out, to love always our neighbors especially our enemies.

This is the best way to proclaim the Good News that the Lord has risen. In the words of Saint Paul, “the old order is gone and a new being is there to see”(2 Cor. 5:17). We must live our new life. Get rid of the old man and live the new man in us which has been transformed by the Risen Christ.

With joy in our hearts, we proclaim the Lord has risen, but we can proclaim this all the more by the newness of our lives and the newness of our relationship with God, with ourselves and with others.

Happy Easter to all and may you truly experience the Risen Christ in your day to day life!

ROLANDO J. TRIA TIRONA, O.C.D., D.D.

Archbishop of Caceres