Church leaders speak out on crime, policing, SoEs
April 28, 2021
5th Sunday in Easter (B)
April 28, 2021

Easter story is about life, family

BELIZE

What would life be if Jesus had remained comfortably in the dark tomb? Bishop Lawrence Nicasio of Belize City and Belmopan posed this question in his Easter message to faithful.

“He, Jesus, had to rise from the dead; He had to complete His mission; He had to complete the story.”

“Jesus had to pass from death to life. He is not Lord of death. He is Lord of life,” Bishop Nicasio said, according to diocesan monthly The Christian Herald.

The Easter story then is about life; it is a success story; it is a story of unconditional love, he said. “In our sinfulness, Jesus still saw in His loving heart to give us the gift and the hope of a like Resurrection.”

Bishop Nicasio highlighted that the Easter story is about family, reminding all of us that we are Jesus’ family and that He, Jesus, is a responsible head, a responsible Father of us all. For this reason, His Resurrection and life are His gifts to all His children.

“There is no room for misunderstanding here; no room for Christians to remain in a dark tomb. We have made the Lenten journey together. We died with Him, we now rise with Him as we celebrate His Resurrection and life … celebrating again our membership in Him who has risen from the dead,” Bishop Nicasio said.

He continued, in Jesus, there is no room for hatred and division. “To not understand something or someone can keep one in darkness and in a state of stagnation. We deny ourselves the great opportunity to be true children of God when we live in our own world and fail to understand the cultures of our other brothers and sisters who also have a right to live with us in our common home, earth.”

The Bishop opined that many of our problems exist because of misunderstanding and xenophobia. However, a Christian family embraces wider Christian relatives.