EASTER, the Triumph of GoodnessBy Most Reverend Archbishop William Slattery, OFM

The message of Easter is the “Triumph of Goodness”. The awful destruction of Jesus through malice, injustice and corruption does not have the final word.

There is a great painting in Jerusalem of people on the Saturday after Good Friday. They are in deep mourning, sitting disconsolately against a wall each one locked in lonely hopelessness. Jesus has been crucified. Has the journey ended in despair?

Early next morn at dawn a group of women go to the tomb, it is empty, and He is alive. Yes, here is the promise of life after death. But this is not the prime message of Easter. The real meaning is that Christ is amongst us now. He is accompanying us. He will continue his glorious work in us. Goodness and Truth will ultimately triumph.

And this is an important message for us today in South Africa. Social disillusion, inequality, unemployment, violence, state capture, ostentatious consumerism and abject poverty are not the final state of humanity. Easter promises that there will always be the in-break of goodness.

The resurrection is not an event of the past. It contains a vital power which has permeated the world. Where all seems to be dead, signs of resurrection suddenly spring up. It is an irresistible force. As Kgalema Mathlante said at Kathrada’s funeral; “we must become diligent and passionate activists for social change and justice”.

Encountering the risen Lord, the mourners of Calvary were totally transformed and went out to change the world.

Just outside Pretoria is Little Eden, a home for people discarded by the world. There you will find Sipho shot in the head and left to die by a father who executed his only brother and his mother before committing suicide. He was utterly abandoned until Domitilla Hyam embraced him. He has lived at Little Eden for many years now with hundreds of discarded children and adults cared for with care, security and love. What inspired Domitilla and her husband Danny is faith that Jesus is their friend, their companion. Empowered with His love they must continue his caring for the poor and abandoned. There are millions like them in history.