He described Resurrection as “the key to unlocking all secrets”, adding, “Resurrection is the best news. The Lord had chosen his 12 disciples to follow his teachings and miracles to be his eyewitnesses until the resurrection and to spread the good news of salvation.”
He made reference to the disciples “running away from Jesus” even after they promised to stick with him, and posed, “How many times will we break our promise to God? But he is faithful to his word and his hands are stretched to save more than we can imagine. And the resurrection is proof of this.”
Christ, the second Adam, defeated sin and death, hatred, and selfishness, Cardinal Souraphiel observed, adding that believing in Christ means winning over sin and death.
“Resurrection is the good news where death itself died … and selfishness was exiled. The word of God teaches that there is no death worse than the death of the flesh, and that is the death of sin,” the Ethiopian Cardinal said.
He added, “The death of this world is not the only death that we face after this world. Hatred can cover us in the darkness of the future.”
(Story continues below)
According to Cardinal Souraphiel, hatred means the absence of God but resurrection is the victory of love, the kingdom of light, and “the spirit of beauty”.
He said that Christians who give time and space for division, jealousy, and cruelty, are far from Jesus’ cross, his suffering, his death, and his resurrection.
“If we are enemies of the cross in our thoughts, speech, and lifestyle, how can we be friends of the resurrection?” he posed, and added, “We celebrated Easter properly when we are in this spirit without discriminating, dividing, and thanking people. The people we say are far from us, we don't consider them as strangers.”
“When we realize that Christ died and rose up on the resurrection, we will realize that we will be victorious in this. It is said that when we are happy, we celebrate the resurrection victory,” Cardinal Souraphiel said.
Resurrection is the sign of God's light and beauty, the Cardinal further said, and explained, “Celebrating Easter means a place of light and beauty for God. Giving is then being filled with light and transforming into goodness, truth, and spiritual beauty.”
Cardinal Souraphiel urged Ethiopians not to forget that all humans should be respected without any merit.
“When we think that humans are created in the image of God and that he is a new creation by the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, we cannot have the conscience to despise humans,” he says.
The Ethiopian Cardinal further called on the people of God in Ethiopia to keep their spirits up despite the challenges that the country continues to face owing to insecurity.
“Even though the journey of the world is scary, let us look at the Lord who has overcome the world and death; even if the cross is heavy for us, let us cry out to the Lord; we are not alone, let us be comforted because we have a shoulder to carry us; comfort us when we are sad, lift us up when we fall, who will hold us strong when we give up, who will send us the spirit that will not betray us,” Cardinal Souraphiel said in the Easter Message on April 16.
Agnes Aineah is a Kenyan journalist with a background in digital and newspaper reporting. She holds a Master of Arts in Digital Journalism from the Aga Khan University, Graduate School of Media and Communications and a Bachelor's Degree in Linguistics, Media and Communications from Kenya's Moi University. Agnes currently serves as a journalist for ACI Africa.
