Episcopal Messages for Easter 2011

     On the occasion of Easter, April 24, 2011, each diocesan bishop in Korea issued a message. The bishops exhorted the faithful, reborn by the risen Jesus, to bear witness to the truth that justice and love are the last thing to disappear though death, war, and violence still prevail in the world.

     Diocesan bishops asked the faithful to live their daily lives sincerely to bear witness to life reborn in Jesus. Meanwhile, they also urged faithful to put more efforts to build culture of life and to live together with the marginalized in the full light of the risen Jesus.

     H.E. Nicholas Cardinal Cheong Jinsuk, Archbishop of Seoul, said that the faithful should not forget that christians have power to prevent irrationalities and evils from the world. He also stressed that the first thing the Church should do is to show the world that the risen Jesus dwells among us now. To do so, Cardinal Cheong said that the faithful should be changed with the power of the Holy Spirit. In addition, he made a point that the presence of Church is meaningless when she just takes care of her own interest.

     The Most Rev. Hyginus Kim Hee-joong, Archbihop of Kwangju, said that those who can talk about hope in current dark situations are the faithful who take root in the resurrection of Jesus. He asked the faithful to bear witness to Christ with their daily lives as establishing truthful hope with the strength of faith in the resurrection.

     The Most Rev. Thaddeus Cho Hwan-kil, Archbishop of Daegu, said that the risen Jesus teaches us what we can hope when miserable news are continuously being told in these days. He also added that the faithful, the witnesses of the resurrection, need to go forward to the way of life, instead living like those who do not know what a hope is.

     Besides, other diocesan bishops shared in the opinion that our society are having difficulties with the global economic crisis, the low birth rate, the aging society and the foot-and-mouth disease. They also said people would make sure to overcome the pervasive culture of death to live like the risen Jesus.