With all the bad news about today, its a change to hear some good news... Christian leaders have invoked the crucifix and the mystery of the resurrection as symbols of hope for believers this Easter.
Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney and Australia's highest-placed Catholic, said remembering Christ's death was the most important feast for Christians.
"Jesus, the man-God, died and rose from death," Cardinal Pell said in his 2006 Easter message. "The cross, an instrument of death, became the tree of life."
The World Youth Day cross, officially passed to Australia last Sunday at a ceremony in Rome, was a sign of hope for the nation's youth, he said.
"(It is) a symbol of the final victory of love over evil, life over death."
Anglican Archbishop Peter Jensen echoed Cardinal Pell's message of the resurrection's mystery.
"Easter brings before us a question that puzzles many people: 'Is there life after death?'," Archbishop Jensen said.
"However many chocolate eggs we buy, or however many trips to the (Royal Easter) Show we make, we can't pretend that this great question is not essential to this holiday period. Throughout history mankind had drawn on hopes that life continued beyond death," he said.
"For many, at best, this is an idealised version of the things they enjoyed most in this life. For others, it has not been a subject for optimism or hope," he said.
"Rather it has inspired fear of an unknown future, or no future at all. Easter served as a reminder to Christians that there was nothing to fear in death," said Archbishop Jensen.
"(Jesus) has defeated death in his death and resurrection," he said. "In his death he bore the burden of our guilt and shame."In his resurrection he offers us a true and living hope: new life with him now and for eternity."
Sounds like good news to me!
Ava g'day!
