Presider’s Page

We’re two weeks into the Easter season now, but the Good News of the season continues to reverberate in the Liturgy. Joyfully we worship God who raised our Saviour from the dead.

Even though Easter Week is now behind us, today’s liturgy still overflows with the joy of Jesus’ resurrection. We continue to celebrate that great event for the next six weeks, until Pentecost Sunday on the 4th June, the fiftieth and final day of Easter.

This Easter morning we celebrate the central mystery of our faith, the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. He suffered on the cross and died for us, but now he is risen!

We gather around the Easter candle this night, celebrating the Lord’s resurrection. With that light to illumine our way, we remember how God has cared for humanity from the dawn of time. These readings remind us what happened at the highpoints of our history.

The liturgy that begins this Thursday evening continues until we reach Easter. We are at the start of a three-day celebration of the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus. We journey from the Last Supper to Gethsemane tonight, from there to Calvary tomorrow, and from the tomb to resurrection and new life at the Vigil of Easter Sunday.  

The events of Holy Week are laid out before us in this Sunday’s “Long Gospel”: as we gather, we prepare to enter in to the mystery of God’s love made visible in Jesus’ passion and death.

We gather this Sunday to worship our compassionate God, who heals our sinfulness and challenges us to leave the past behind.

We have reached the midway point of the season of Lent. The joy of Easter is within our reach and the parent of the prodigal son encourages us to rely all the more on divine mercy.

Today, as we gather to listen to the Lenten call to repentance, we worship our God of kindness who, like a patient gardener, always gives people a second chance.

We pause from our lenten penances in Ireland, to honour Patrick, our national apostle. In our celebration of this solemn feast, we worship God, creator, redeemer and sanctifier, who brought our ancestors into the Christian fold through the preaching of St Patrick.