MESSAGE FOR EASTER 2023
from Archbishop Simon Poh
“Save us, Saviour of the world
For by your Cross and Resurrection
You have set us free”
Dear brothers and sisters,
We have just travelled through the entire Holy Week—from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday (2–9 April 2023). These are the final days of Jesus that are celebrated by Christians throughout the world. The passion, death and resurrection of Jesus is not the end but the very source of our Christian living that we celebrate in every Mass for the last 2,000 years.
Palm Sunday
2,000 years ago, during the Passover time, Jesus entered Jerusalem and the people, waving palm leaves, welcomed him
as the promised Messiah, hence the name Palm Sunday. The people shouted: “Blessing on him who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest heavens” (Matt 21:9). Hosanna means: “Please, save us, our deliverer”.
At every Mass, let us confidently shout out and implore Jesus: “Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes to save us in the name of the Lord.”
We are confident that Jesus, the Passover Lamb of God sacrificed on the Cross to take away the sins of the world, will have mercy on us. He will save us and deliver us from every evil, grant us peace, keep us free from sin, and safe from distress and protected from anxiety. Let us come to Mass in faith: Save us now Jesus, our Lord and King, deliver us! Hosanna!
Last Supper of the Lord on Holy Thursday during Passover
On the Thursday after Palm Sunday, Jesus celebrated the Feast of the Unleaven Bread with his 12 apostles. Leonardo da Vinci’s painting in “The Last Supper” captures the moment when Jesus revealed that he would be betrayed by one of them. On the evening of the Passover, “… as they were eating, Jesus took some bread, said the blessing, broke it and gave it to his disciples. He said, ‘Take and eat, this is my body.’ Then he took the cup, returned thanks and gave to them:
‘Drink all of you from this, which is to be poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins’ (Mt 26:26-29). ‘Do this as a memorial of me’ (Luke 22:19-20).”
I am sure you would have recognised the above scripture texts as the Consecration Prayer used during the Mass for the priest to consecrate bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ.
At the Last Supper, our Lord Jesus Chris instituted the very first Eucharist or Mass. Using the same words of scriptures, Jesus’ apostles and their successors, the Bishops and the Catholic Church thus faithfully carry out this by celebrating the Mass in memory of Jesus. Since 2,000 years ago, the Catholic Church has been celebrating daily and Sunday Masses.
Good Friday
During the Last Supper on Thursday, Jesus had said: “This is my body given up for you … This is my blood poured out for you.” And on Good Friday, the meaning of Jesus’s words became clear when Jesus was hung on the cross, offering his body and blood, poured out to the earth, for the forgiveness of all the sins of humanity.
When Jesus celebrated the Last Supper during the Passover, he accepted to be the PASSOVER LAMB OF GOD who was sacrificed on the Cross to take away the sins of the world.
At every Mass, we can now come to the foot of the Altar of the Cross. We look up to the Body and Blood of Christ held up by the priest: “Behold the Lamb of God. Blessed are those who are called to the table of the Lamb.” Let us believe in the real presence of Jesus, receive the Body of Christ and experience his healing. “… Say the word Lord and I shall be healed.”
Easter Vigil
When Jesus died, his disciples all went into hiding and many thought it was the end. But on the first day of the week, at the first sign of dawn, the women went to the tomb and found that the tomb was empty (Luke 24:1-12). Alleluia, Jesus has risen from the dead as he has said he would.
His Resurrection reveals that Jesus is the risen Lord and the Son of God. Jesus’ death on the Cross was the ultimate sacrifice of love that ransoms the sins of humanity.
On the cross on Good Friday, the debt of humanity was “paid in full” by Jesus and we are redeemed from slavery of the Evil One and sins. “God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost but may have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
To receive this life and salvation, we only have to believe in Jesus as our Risen Lord and Saviour. Let us invite him into our hearts, our families. Jesus is with us until the end of time.
I invite all Catholics to come back to Holy Mass to celebrate the Death and Resurrection of our Lord. Receive the Body of Christ and encounter the Risen Lord in your midst. And like the first witnesses of the Risen Lord, Mary Magdalene and the disciples,
“Go in Peace, glorifying the Lord
by your life.”
Blessed Easter
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