In these Easter days we celebrate Christ's death and resurrection. We are reflecting on the Paschal Mystery which calls us to think about suffering in our lives and on how to move through it and beyond it to the new life of Easter.
Suffering is so much part of our world and a reality that cannot be denied or glossed over. We see it on our TV screens in the violence and genocide in Kosovo. We see it in violence on our streets. We are all acquainted with suffering and grief. Each of us knows someone who has lost a loved one in tragic circumstances or who is caring for someone who is seriously ill. At the Cross, we stand in silence before the mystery of suffering.
But the Cross brings an additional dimension. It is not just an event which confronts us with suffering, it is also a time when we stand before the mystery of God's love for us. "God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son." It is awesome to be loved so much.
It is a time when we are aware of our own weaknesses and vulnerabilities. How we have hurt people close to us. How we fail to live up to our ideals. How we want to do good but so often fail. As St Paul says: ". . . though the will to do what is good is in me, the power to do it is not; the good thing I want to do, I never do; the evil thing which I do not want - that is what I do" (Romans 7: 18-19).
We stand as a people in need of reconciliation. Reconciliation in the North of Ireland, where prejudice and sectarianism still rule so many hearts. Reconciliation in our society, where so many are still in want while others have plenty. Reconciliation in our families, where there can be tensions and misunderstandings. Reconciliation inside ourselves, where we know we are not at peace in the depths of our being. Most importantly, reconciliation with God, the source of our being and of our life.
As portrayed in the Gospels, reconciliation is fundamentally a joyful event. It is the joyful welcome of the sinner in the embrace of God's merciful love.
Our Lord speaks of that joy in his parables. The shepherd who found the sheep that had strayed, the woman who found the coin she had mislaid, called their friends together to share their joy. Such is the joy in God's heart at the sinner's return. It is the unforgettable joy of the father in receiving back the son who had strayed. This is the joy that God shares with the repentant sinner, now relieved of the burden of guilt and restored to innocence and to friendship with God. It is the joy of the sacrament of reconciliation and the peace that the world cannot give.
There is another dimension to reconciliation and that is reconciliation with the church. So many now in Ireland need reconciliation with the church and the church in turn needs to be reconciled to them.
Reconciliation means forgiving as well as seeking forgiveness. By our sins we injure the Body of Christ, but we too as members of that Body have been injured by the sins of our brothers and sisters. In recent years we have had painful experience of this through the occurrence of scandal in the church. Not only have we had the shock of shameful revelations, but we have suffered anxiety about the impact of these scandals.
This sense of betrayal can serve to unite us to Christ, who bore with patience the weight of the sins of the world, our own sins included. When our brothers and sisters create a burden for us by their sins we are following Christ if we accept that burden with generosity and offer our suffering in union with him for the spiritual needs of those who have sinned. An act of penance we can offer with Christ to the Father is generous acceptance of the suffering we experience as members of the Body of Christ on account of the sins that wound the church with scandal.
THE scandals that have arisen in the church are but the most insidious form of the influence that may cause alienation from the church. Hurt may also be caused by bad experience with those who act in her name; by misunderstanding, by harshness, intolerance, insensitivity at moments of personal anxiety or when feelings are raw. The church is like a family where the members love one another but may also get on one another's nerves, where there is constant need of reconciliation and forgiveness.
As we approach the great Jubilee, and especially this Easter, I want to reach out to all who have felt this kind of hurt and to express my sorrow for hurt I have caused.
Reconciliation means coming home. The church is a home where you will find God, who alone has always known and loved you, and has understood and accepted you fully. None of us fully understands our own self and that is why our relationships are fragile and full of risks. But in the church you will find the healing warmth of God's love. Sometimes you will find yourself annoyed, challenged, offended, irritated and you may experience all of these emotions at once. This is because the church is made up of imperfect beings like you and me. Often, when we quarrel with the church we are quarrelling with each other; we find it hard to come back to the church because we find it so hard to forgive. But when we have discovered how God has forgiven us we will find the way to forgive one another.
Forgiveness is all the more urgent today as we experience the growth of a secular culture that is both permissive and unforgiving.
Permissiveness encourages the individual to pursue his own satisfaction without regard for others. Acknowledging no wrongdoing in this kind of life, it finds no need for forgiveness. At the same time the behaviour of others is exposed and condemned without pity. What our culture does not perceive is that it is the discovery of our own need of God's forgiveness that opens our hearts to forgiveness of those who offend us.
At Easter, the dejected disciples are heading for Emmaus talking of hopes dashed and trying to make sense of what had happened at Calvary. Jesus comes to them and they recognise him in the breaking of bread. Mary of Magdala weeps at the tomb in desolation. Jesus appears to her and sends her on a mission: "Go and tell the brothers" about the resurrection.
ALL of this speaks to us. Like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, "our own hope had been" for so much more. But through the resurrection, we recognise him in the breaking of the bread and are given new energy to set out once more in companionship, having forgiven each other.
Like Mary, we grieve over loss of faith and hope. Jesus meets us in our grief and sends us out again. He says to us: "Peace be with you"; "Do not be afraid" and "As the Father sent me, so am I sending you". These Easter days are days of new energy and life when scandal, mistrust and error can be healed and replaced by and with the power of Christ's resurrection and when we receive new courage to bring the good news to others.
Some of these ideas are developed further by Archbishop Connell in his pastoral Reconciliation and Penance, Veritas 1999.
