Celebrating Easter with with Garissa in mind

On this Easter weekend, many Catholic Churches in Africa will be teeming with people at the Easter vigil Mass. In Africa, this great Christian feast is marked with great joy, singing and dancing. If there are baptisms, the Mass can even go on way past mid-night and no one seems to mind. No one cares because Easter like Christmas comes but once a year. One feels very proud to be a Catholic and to be part of such ritual filled with great symbolism: The fire, the big Easter candle, incense, water, more candles, bells…it is so much to take in one night!

Yet on many people’s minds, this year’s Easter vigil in Africa is also different. It is difficult to completely brush aside the horror of the Garissa University College attack by Al Shabaab where so many young lives have just been lost. It is a pain that is hard to fathom. The more one thinks about it, the less comprehensible it all is.

The sad reality of human life in Africa is that it is riddled with different forms of suffering and sadness. Where does one get the courage to carry on in the face of such tragedy? The answer can only be in Jesus.

Several people have remarked how for the first time the death of Jesus on the cross and the Good Friday ceremony seemed to speak to their shared grief about events in Kenya.

The Psalmist in Psalm 23 says, “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” Evil, death and terrorists can never have the last word. Perhaps this is what the Easter event is actually saying to the people of Africa.

It is fitting that we rejoice on this Easter weekend. We rejoice today because the words of Jesus that He is the resurrection and life (John 11) have been confirmed. We know that death cannot triumph over life, darkness is not stronger than light, evil can be defeated by goodness.

The triumph of Jesus over death opens the way to eternal life. The resurrection of Jesus inspires us to be renewed in the spirit. Like Peter in the readings of this Easter Sunday, we do not fear anymore. We are bigger than any terrorist who only operates under the cover and shadow of darkness. We are bigger because we are children of Light.

 (Sinene)

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