This year will mark a significant wedding anniversary for myself and my wife and is well worth celebrating. Celebration is at the heart of what it means to be human and is therefore important for us all.

Put simply, celebration is showing we are happy about something. Happiness can be expressed in any number of ways.

People of Faith celebrate “Rites of Passage,” birth, coming of age, marriage and death in particular. For many christians this speaks of the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Matrimony and Funerals. For Catholics a Sacrament is a sacred moment which makes real what it symbolises. The presence and power of God is manifested in the moment both in the person and communally in the body of believers gathered for the celebration.

The Christian story is one of celebration which is told in worship, prayer and liturgy. A teenage peasant girl is visited by an angel to announce the greatest event in human history; God the Creator becoming present in his creation. This event contains within itself the promise of the liberation of humankind from degradation and futility brought about by sin and separation from God. Eternal life no less in a resurrected body, made possible by the Jesus’ death and Resurrection which is what Christians have just celebrated at Easter.

What’s more, this saving event upon which all else that really matters is based, is celebrated and made present in the Eucharist offered on altars all over the world each day.

Today the Church celebrates “Good Shepherd Sunday.” Like the good shepherd, Jesus lays down his life for his sheep. That’s not only for the Jews but for everyone – you and me. Jesus wants to reach out to everyone including those who do not value or celebrate life from conception to the grave or oligarchs who do not celebrate democracy or freedom. Mary’s “yes” makes change possible for everyone.

Christians are undergoing terrible persecution throughout the world at this time but we continue to celebrate all that’s good in life.

How sad for those who don’t. Being truly human and celebration are synonymous.

But the victory has been won and there is no going back. Christian martyrs are at the forefront of this new Easter Life both now in the present moment and in eternity. Worth celebrating?

We are an Easter People and Alleluia is our song.   

Those of us who celebrate the historical event of the Resurrection welcome Jesus Christ among us today in His Body the Church and we are called to live the Gospel imperative to care for the poor and disadvantaged. To build a new world which looks to the everlasting Kingdom to which all are called.

This is highlighted in the quotes below from Justin Welby and Pope Francis.

If the Resurrection is true, our whole life must be based on this reality and to

 give Jesus the first place in everything.

Choose a better future for all, Justin Welby tells UK (Guardian)

The archbishop of Canterbury has called on Britons to be more generous as they emerge from the pandemic, urging people to provide a “better future for all” rather than living in a society that only benefits the rich and powerful.

In his Easter Sunday sermon, Justin Welby, the most senior bishop in the Church of England, said society had a choice to make as it emerges from the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We can go on as before Covid, where the most powerful and the richest gain and so many fall behind,” he said at Canterbury Cathedral. “We have seen where that left us. Or we can go with the flooding life and purpose of the resurrection of Jesus, which changes all things, and choose a better future for all.”

He criticised the government’s plan to reduce the amount it spends on international aid at a time of global crisis. “The overwhelming generosity of God to us should inspire the same by us, in everything from private acts of love and charity to international aid generously maintained,” he said. “We have received overwhelmingly, so let us give generously.”

The Pope tells world to share coronavirus vaccines with the poor

The Pope called on the world to support the distribution of coronavirus vaccines in poor countries in his Easter message from St Peter’s Basilica, saying that the risen Christ gave hope and comfort to all those suffering as a result of the pandemic.

Francis said that everyone, especially the vulnerable, had a right to care and appealed to rich countries “to commit to overcoming delays in the distribution of vaccines and to facilitate their distribution, especially in the poorest countries”. (Times Report)