The above image was one of the first taken from inside Notre Dame Cathedral not long after the fire it experienced this week was brought under control. For me it is a very powerful symbol of what Easter is all about.

On Palm Sunday we experienced the joy of the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem. The mood then changed dramatically and the plotting against Jesus began. Jesus and the Disciples had their ‘Last Supper’ together at which time Jesus instituted the Eucharist which we still faithfully celebrate to this day.

Then Jesus is arrested, tortured, abused, made fun of and condemned to death. He is subjected to the gruesome death of crucifixion and at this point all seems lost…it seems that there is no hope.

Yet three days later hope is reborn. Jesus is risen.

As the fire of Notre Dame began and we saw what looked like the end of the Cathedral as we knew it. It seemed that all was lost, that there was no hope that anything could survive. And yet in the following days we see the cross shine out. We hear that hope is reborn because the damage is not as bad as what was first thought. Significant parts of the Cathedral have survived and the Cathedral will rise again.

On Monday in Lismore our Bishop, Bishop Greg, reminded us that ‘darkness’ exists in our lives and in our world in many ways. Easter reminds us that with faith in God in our hearts there is always hope and that hope will always shine out through the darkness just like the cross in the picture above.

On behalf of Fr Peter, Fr Joe and myself I would like to wish everyone a very blessed and holy Easter. May the hope and new life that the resurrection brings be alive and well in our lives and shines out in our parish and in our world.

God bless,
Paul