“At Easter the Risen Christ dispels darkness, the darkness of evil that at times tends to overshadows light,” he said. “Light can be seen ahead, clearly distinguishable. In our journey towards it we keep faith alive, walking in the clear hope that Christ is our goal.”
“Christ’s resurrection refreshes us with new life and hope; it helps us retain the spirit of hope in life. In times of trial and crisis we must always be certain that God is with us. Indeed faith and hope are two virtues that will strengthen us and accompany us throughout our lives. His spirit can infuse the freshness of life into the trials and monotony of our daily living.”
In the meantime, as India gets ready to go to the polls after a hard-fought campaign, Archbishop Menamparampil urged Christians to endure “whatever painful process we have to go through.” In fact people in his diocese, which is in the state of Assam, have had to endure inter-ethnic violence and clashes between Hindu and Muslim tribal groups for quite some time.
In another appeal for peace, a call the Church has made repeatedly, he said that Easter is a good time to be led out of darkness and into the light.
Similarly, “we should look for things that unite us, work to build bridges of understanding,” he said.
“If you delve deeply into what Indian culture symbolises, you find that it is a ‘search for truth’,” he said in explaining why he chose to quote from the Upanishad in the meditations he wrote for the Via Crucis.
“Truth is the way to Peace,” he noted. “Only the pursuit of truth can unite all the peoples of our country”; only when we acknowledge this can “all the peoples of the world build a civilisation based on unity and peace.”
“It is my great hope,” he added, “that one day the Huáng Hé (or Yellow River) will flow into the Brahmaputra and into the Mississippi so that we shall all be closer to one other,”. For “as Pope Benedict XVI prophetically said: ‘Truth Unites”.” (NC)