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SANGGUNIANG PAMBANSA NG
MGA SIMBAHAN SA PILIPINAS National Council of Churches in the Philippines * 879 Epifanio de los Santos Avenue, Quezon City, Philippines PO BOX 2639 Quezon City; PO BOX 1767 Manila 1099 ( (632) 9288636/ 9293745 FAX: (632) 9267076 Cable Address: O IKOUMENE MANILA E-mail: nccp-ga@philonline.com, nccp-ocr@philonline.com |
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2 April 2002 AN EASTER MESSAGE Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed! The shouts sent electrifying darts throughout the villages and towns on that first Easter morning. The message was met with mixed emotions for many could not make sense of the news. What meaning does Easter have for the 75 million Filipinos today who continue to fear the escalating US presence in the country... to rage against the insensitivity and callousness of our leaders... to seek answers to deep-seated questions that have known no response? In the resurrection account, the risen Lord appeared to the women before he did to the beloved disciples. It only showed that Jesus, in death and life, had always a special concern for the marginalized and the excluded. Emboldened by the face to face encounter with Jesus, the women spread abroad the good news that he was alive. Those at the bottom of the social heap had been made the bearers of the liberating news of the resurrection. The new will be ushered in, not by political leaders who are catapulted into power by reformist electoral processes or by the people who mass up at certain thoroughfares only during historical upheavals. The transformed social order shall be brought about by those who, like Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, consistently embrace the struggle for change in season or out of season. Only they-the poor, deprived and oppressed-who weep in the darkness shall know the profound joy that comes in the morning. (Revelation 2:10) Before his death, Jesus referred to himself as the TRUTH. He said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life." (John 14:6) When he was buried on Good Friday, it was as if the truth had been concealed. On Easter morning, the angel rolled the stone aside. The truth was released! The disturbed chief priests greased the soldiers' palms with money in order to hide the truth about the Risen Lord by spreading malicious lies that the disciples had stolen the body of Jesus. On Easter morning, the truth soared like a bird freely embracing the skies. Truth was not with the chief priests nor with King Herod. Truth was with Jesus. Today, no amount of propaganda about the US troops can conceal the grandiose plan of the United States to regain its foothold in the Philippines. No medical missions, no toys, no chocolates can hide the truth about the Balikatan exercises. The Filipino people can clearly see behind the veneer. They know where the truth lies. Jesus met his disciples and told them to meet him again in Galilee-hundreds of miles from where they were. Why? Because it was in Galilee where Jesus ministered to people in need. He wanted to return to where he had lived and served the poor. The greatest event in the life of the Christian Church is not celebrated in the hollowed halls of our temples and sanctuaries not in the sacred sites adorned with Easter lilies and crosses. Easter is appropriately celebrated in the highways and byways where the poor desperately cry out for change... in the countrysides where people passionately work for liberation... in the places where the promise of the resurrection continues to be only that: an unfulfilled promise. Christ is risen indeed! Let his resurrection lead us to deepen our solidarity with the "sinned against"... to expose the truth about the defilement of our sovereignty... to continue serving the cause of just and lasting peace.
MS. SHARON ROSE JOY RUIZ-DUREMDES |
