Easter 2009
+ Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney
12 Apr 2009
When things are going badly, what does it mean to claim Christ saved and redeemed us? Where is Christ in a personal or community tragedy like an earthquake, or war, or terrible bushfires and floods (the big Australian double), or a financial disaster?
Easter works at a deeper and different level from financial problems and natural disasters and no one can understand Easter without at least some basic ideas on the nature of sin. Christ's redemptive work on the cross means our sins are forgiven, if we repent and ask for forgiveness.
No one can buy forgiveness, which is not like a patch placed over a tear in a garment. Reciting a formula cannot guarantee forgiveness. Only those who admit to sinning can be forgiven by God and they have to regret that they sinned.
Everyone has a basic sense of right and wrong, an understanding that some actions are evil, unless the goodness in their hearts is squeezed out by repeated sins when they are old, or by cruelty and lack of love when they were young.
A sinful action is one that lacks proper order, that violates the order of creation which derives from the Maker of heaven and earth. Some call this natural law.
But the divine order of creation is an order of love, universal love which is violated by sin. Sin always involves an action which is heading in the wrong direction away from God, usually against the proper rights of others. Sin is always an improper assertion of self.
The worst sinners are spiritually blind, morally tone deaf so that they rejoice in the pain they inflict on others. They have rejected God's eternal plan. Some resent having to obey laws they themselves have not created, although they still obey. Others refuse to serve.
When Christ was dying on the Cross he said about his persecutors "Father, forgive them, they know not what they do" (Lk 23:34). He was practicing what he had earlier preached when he taught "But to you who hear I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you" (Lk 6:27).
Forgiveness is needed in good times and in bad, forgiveness from one to another and forgiveness from God. Success tends to make us arrogant and insensitive, tempts us to ignore Christ's requirement to forgive those who hurt us.
Some crimes cannot be forgiven by any human being, because no one remains with the right to forgive. Murder provides such an example because the victim is no more. But God always forgives the repentant; including repentant murderers.
Many people today still find it hard to forgive themselves; harder to forgive themselves than ask God for forgiveness, God can help them too.
When Christ forgave those who killed him, he showed us that forgiveness is available to everyone who repents.
Only God can make such a promise. This is the main point of Easter.
