Easter message: Bishop Patrick invites us to open our hearts to the risen Christ

On Sunday 5th April, Bishop Patrick McKinney celebrated Easter Mass with hundreds of faithful gathered at Nottingham Cathedral.

He reflected on how baptism is a personal commitment to Christ. He emphasised that this relationship with the risen Christ continues to deepen through the sacraments and the Word of God offering us strength and hope.

He also mentioned Christ’s victory over sin and suffering. He encouraged all to trust God’s love and guidance in our daily lives.

Homily of Bishop Patrick's for Easter Sunday

‘Kyrios Jesus!’ Jesus is Lord! That’s how the early Church succinctly and powerfully proclaimed its faith in the Resurrection. For the early Christians this proclamation meant, ‘Jesus is Lord of my life’. So when people came forward to receive baptism, made their baptismal promises and their Profession of Faith, this was not just an intellectual exercise for them, not just an accepting of truths about God and his Church. They also very much understood it as accepting an invitation to  a personal relationship with Christ Jesus, accepting Jesus as Lord of one’s life. Baptism is, after all, the foundational sacrament in our lives as disciples of Christ, in our own living relationship with the Risen Christ. Baptism is built upon by means of  subsequent encounters with Christ Jesus: here in the Eucharist, in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, in Confirmation, and in all the other sacraments; but also in our listening to the Word of God, with a realisation that it is addressed personally  to each of us.

We know that a living relationship with the Risen Christ strengthens us. It can liberate something within us at crucial times in our lives, perhaps a strength we did not know we had, or a renewed hope or capacity for life; sometimes a resilience, or even an ability to bounce back, when we thought we were completely defeated, as well as a capacity to change and grow, and to be transformed by Christ’s Holy Spirit into more missionary disciples, sharing humbly but confidently with others the positive difference that knowing and serving Christ makes to our lives.

For the Christian in whom the Risen Christ is alive and at work, there’s nothing that can ultimately defeat us, not sin, suffering or death, because Christ Jesus, through his death and resurrection, has overcome everything that would seek to destroy or to block our human and spiritual growth. In the Easter sequence we acknowledge the duel of death and life that goes on at times in our hearts; the battle sometimes of human despair against Christian hope. But the victory has been won by Christ – this is what we celebrate at Easter -and we are invited to call upon that victory often, especially at times when we feel overwhelmed by the challenges in our lives. So, correctly understood, the Resurrection of Jesus, which we share in through baptism, provides us with the context in which we can really trust in God’s love for us and rely absolutely upon it.

Easter is essentially a celebration of the Risen life of Jesus, and of the action within us of Christ Jesus himself, by means of his Holy Spirit. It is a time to renew our baptismal promises, to open our hearts afresh to experience this Risen Life in our own lives, and to invite Christ to be Lord in our lives, so that He can continue His work in our world now, through us his disciples, his co-workers. How? Well, it could be as simple as beginning each day with a prayer like this: ‘What, today, are you and I going to do together Lord?’ and then asking the Holy Spirit to open the eyes of our heart to help us to see little opportunities during that day when we can each be the channels by which others experience, through us, something of God’s love, joy, compassion, and forgiveness. This can be done in little, but nevertheless significant, acts of kindness and goodness.

It has to be acknowledged, however, that allowing the Risen Christ to reign a little more freely in our hearts can challenge the way we live and think; such as following our own conscience, one informed by the teachings of Christ, especially in unpopular causes. It can mean being willing to disagree with the majority, and making decisions that we know to be in accordance with the Gospel, even when others, including friends, do not understand why we’re acting as we are.  We all know how easy it can be to submit passively to the opinions of the crowd. But the Christian in whom Christ is risen needs to dare to think and act differently, not because they are arrogant, but because they listen carefully and respond to the guidance of God’s Holy Spirit at work within them.  In those situations, they know they’re not alone, and that God’s grace will provide them with what they need.

As we now each prepare to renew our Baptismal Promises, and make again a Profession of Faith, let’s pause a moment, as the Risen Christ’s co-workers & disciples, to reflect upon how we will invite Him to work more freely in a missionary fashion through us today, and throughout these weeks of Eastertide.

‍

+Patrick

Bishop of Nottingham

‍