Tenison Woods and MacKillop Centre News: He is risen indeed!

He is risen indeed, alleluia!

The Easter story makes no sense without an understanding of the events that lead up to the empty tomb. The sad commercialisation and secularisation of yet another Christian feast cannot be explained away by profits made from chocolate and buns. We had to let something go, and what went was the truth. To grasp the Easter event asks that we dispense with the clutter and return to what is most important.

It is a celebration of God’s loving power – the power to raise Jesus from death; the celebration of Jesus overcoming death – and the hope and expectation that we too will overcome death.

How real do we need this to be? There is an immediacy. A reminder is the tragedy that unfolded in the Place de la Bourse in central Brussels, or that of the Easter outing disrupted by terror in eastern Lahore, indeed wherever life is extinguished or paralysed by the violence, deprivation or neglect of others.

Yes, we have a right to be angry about such a shocking loss of beautiful life, and promises of eternal life seem empty and hollow in the wake of tragedy and heartbreak. But I have spent my entire life believing and trusting that beyond this searing pain are the open arms of God. I firmly believe, like St Paul himself (Romans 15:12ff), that if Christ did not rise from the dead, there is no point to our faith, “But the truth is that Christ has been raised from death, as the guarantee that those who sleep in death will also be raised (v. 20).”

The surprise of the empty tomb is for us too, not as bystanders, but as recipients and sharers in God’s life.

Let your Easter be a firm reminder of God’s abiding and lavish love for you. Be rested, drive with great care and return safely.

Peter Douglas

HEAD OF SCHOOL SERVICES, NORTH

Welcome!

At the Easter Vigil at Our Lady of Lourdes Church, Devonport, Nic Saltmarsh (Our Lady of Mercy, Deloraine) was baptised; Tina Badcock (St Patrick's, Latrobe) was received into the Church; and, Samantha McGrath, a parent at Sacred Heart, Ulverstone, was also baptised. Welcome to the family!

Nic Saltmarsh (above) and Tina Badcock

The gift of being different

by Andy Hamilton SJ

Cultural diversity is a fact of our daily lives. In the streets we see people with turbans, head scarves, clerical collars, the latest sneakers, Armani suits, smell people with Chanel perfume, hear Greek music from the next car, and walk past people playing bocce and others doing Tai Chi in the parks. And mostly we appreciate all this diversity as a blessing.

But of course much of this diversity is skin deep. The deeper gift of cultural diversity lies in the significant differences between human beings who share a common humanity. The culture and religion in which we are born and grow help shape the way we respond to our world. When we mix with people from different cultures and come to know them more deeply we grow in our own humanity. We deepen our own sense of identity by our exchanges with people who are different from us.

Unfortunately, difference is also often a source of conflict. The wrong footy jumper, the conversation in a language other than English, the wrong coloured skin and the wrong shaped eyes can lead to abusive words.

If we make nationality or religion or culture the core of our national identity we are more likely to be hostile to people who differ from us. Some people look back nostalgically to a time when there were few Asians, Africans or Muslims in Australia, when most Australians were of Christian faith and European extraction. Differences then were not a problem, they say, because there were no differences. They imagine that a strong, united nation must have a single religious and cultural identity.

People who make judgments like that have forgotten what the past was really like. But for followers of Jesus our identity is shaped by longing and love. We long for God and for a world that makes God’s peace, generosity and variety visible. A strong nation is not one in which only one language is spoken, one religion is practiced and only the same customs tolerated.

God’s infinite variety is reflected in the differences between people. God’s deep unity is reflected in the deep and varied relationships that people make. The deeper the variety of relationships the better the society is, held together by love and a longing for unity of hearts.

As a Christian organisation, Jesuit Social Services welcomes people from all backgrounds and cultures. We learn from vulnerable young people with whom we work about the many challenges they have faced in entering a new culture and language. We have also learned that their own culture and languages are a treasure for both them and us to appreciate.

Andy Hamilton SJ is editorial consultant at Jesuit Communications and a Spiritual Adviser at Jesuit Social Services.