ARCHBISHOP NEILL WELCOMES THE APPOINTMENTOF ARCHBISHOP DIARMUID MARTIN
THANKSGIVING SERVICE FOR
DUBLIN AND GLENDALOUGH
DIOCESAN EMPLOYMENT BUREAU
You and I cannot speak of the resurrection of Jesus Christ with authentic joy without reference to the events of Good Friday. Easter Day derives its wonder from the fact that it was the Saviour of the World, crucified and - to use a popular metaphor of today - degraded by the force of evil, who through his Resurrection provides for all time the decisive disclosure of God’s victory over death, darkness and despair. We do however have to accept that the Good Friday death was a real death, and that resurrection presupposes a death.
Mary Magdalene turned round and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus (John 20:14) |
When the disciples had overcome their initial shock at the Resurrection that first Easter Day they had to move on, to move back into life and accept that so much had changed. Christ had overcome death and failure – new hope had been born for their world.
Easter on Rathlin Island this year will be a special time of celebration for the small Church of Ireland congregation of St Thomas’ Parish Church, founded by the monks of Bangor Abbey in 580AD.