(Message of Cardinal Orlando B. Quevedo, OMI, Archbishop of Cotabato, on Easter Sunday, 16 April 2017)
Beloved Brothers and Sisters in God:
May the joy and peace of Easter be with you!
While others may have a different belief, we believe that Jesus died on the Cross and after three days rose from the dead. By these events he became our Savior and Redeemer.
We Catholics expressed our gratitude to God’s gift of salvation, when we renewed our baptismal promises at the evening Holy Saturday Easter Mass. We renewed two pledges made when we were baptized: to believe in, and therefore, to love God with all our heart, mind, and soul; and to reject Satan and sinfulness.
This is the new life of Easter that we should live – to be dead to sin and be alive in God. But the sad reality in ourselves and in our society is that we fail to live this new life. That is the reason for social injustice, for social division and conflict, for poverty, for discrimination and violence, for corruption and dishonesty, for criminality and vice. We believe in the new life; we do not live it.
Easter and the renewal of baptismal promises remind us of who we are, redeemed and saved by the Risen Lord, committed to live a life of truth and justice, of love and peace.
Let us then give meaning to our Easter rejoicing. Let the Lord Jesus truly reign in our hearts. He is risen, alleluiah, alleluiah!
