Easter Sunday is the culmination of the Catholic faith, a day marking the miracle in which Jesus Christ rose from the dead and walked among men once more.
It truly is the day which should revive waning dedication among those that call themselves Roman Catholics and it does tend to. However, in today’s day and age, many say that they are either lapsed Catholics, non-practicing Catholics or agnostics. Yet, what is remarkable is mankind’s fickleness, one of the sins which Christ died on the cross for almost 2,000 years ago. Like Saint Peter did in the garden of Garden of Gethsemane, many of us deny God and Christ in our everyday lives. We go to our jobs, we unwind on the weekend and we return to work the next week. More and more of us do not go to church and more yet go to church just for the sake of it. But come Lenten time, we start to hear of the sacrifices people make – giving up chocolates, alcohol or even television in some cases, and this is were the fickleness comes in. Because we are reminded of Good Friday – the day representing the crucifixion, we fast, we try and atone for our sins and we try to live a “fake” life for that 40-day period.
It is like the lapsed Catholic who turns to God in the event of a serious illness, that is human nature, and perhaps that is exactly why Christ died for us on the cross. Maybe he knew that we would never be able to keep God in our eyes diligently and as our faith requires.
Perhaps we should also move with the times and think of the concept behind our fasting in relation to the realities of today. Maybe we should take a leaf out of the book of an Anglican Bishop in the United Kingdom who told his parishioners that they should consider making more of an effort in recycling and reducing their carbon emissions for Lent. Our religion is a mystery, a mystery of faith. By definition, you cannot believe in parts of it, or dismiss others as irrelevant – to be a true believer you must accept the mystery of faith for what it is. But more than that, what we should keep in mind is that religion as Christ taught it was not merely “obey God and do not sin”. It is a moral code of ethics – do unto others as you wish to be done unto you, if you are slapped, turn the other cheek. Again, we must not judge these phrases literally – Christ was known to teach in parables, stories with hidden meanings. We must really reflect on his teachings and if we do, we will realise that in reality, Christ was also telling us to live good and peaceful lives where people are kind to each other and help each other out. Some might not agree, but Christ also tells us to stand up for our own dignity and the dignity of others – the overturning of the tables in the Temple of Jerusalem is one example as is the phrase “let he who is without sin cast the first stone”.
At this time of year, we should perhaps reflect somewhat. Even those of us who have lapsed, those of us who do not believe and even those of us who refuse to believe. While some of us might deny the dogma of our religion, surely, we can connect with Christ on a moral and empathic level. One of the simplest messages Christ gave us was – be good to others and they will be good to you. That message surely goes a lot beyond giving up sweets for 40 days.