Happy Easter! Today we celebrated the holiest day of the liturgical
calendar, the one with most meaning, the day on which the powers of
death have been conquered by the hope given by our belief in eternal
life. Death is the end for all of us but the death and resurrection of
Jesus allows us to participate in the new life he has promised--here and now. The
Catholic Times editorial reminds us of this meaning for Easter. More than any time in the past we are faced with despair, and frustrations. We endured the First and Second World Wars, our Korean civil war and we are still fighting in our world village; uneasy about terrorist attacks, and the fear of tragedy.
Destruction of our environment and ecosystem is putting into danger our living space. The spread of materialism, worldliness, relativism, and unlimited competition is making the life of the poor more difficult.
Korea is not an exception with these problem. The young have difficulty finding work, our situation is not much better than the times when we received relief from the International Monetary Fund. The gap between the rich and poor continues to grow, the dignity we should have for life is being trampled by the culture of death. Many of our citizens are living with despair. Last years Sewol tragedy shows us how slow our society has been to see the contradictions and immorality rampant in society.
But no matter the problems, we still have hope for the future and we should never lose that hope. Christians have the example of Christ on the cross. We both participate in the despair of the cross, and in his resurrection. Despair like that of death is overcome by the hope of the resurrection.
Resurrection is not only the possession of the Christian, but is the message for all humanity. We have the Gospel message of the good news which is the word of hope to the whole world. Let us always be messengers of this hope.
