EASTER MESSAGE
“Enlighten, O Jerusalem, for the Light from Light enlightened your children.”
The core of celebrating Easter by different groups of religions should intend benefiting mankind. Regardless to what group you individually belong, you are not different from the others as a human being, for you have similar ambitions, successes, failures, happiness and sadness like the others. If this is understood, why, then, we cannot embrace each other for brotherly comfort. Indeed, comfort tends to settle our difficulties.
Christ, Son of God, the Messiah, came to comfort His people. His messages of love, peace, life and hope are universal, applicable to everyone. Jerusalem should feel fortunate that it had the greatest opportunity to feel and have the real comfort within for which it was looking for. I believe if people of Jerusalem (the Holy Land) make the sincere effort to live in peace with each other, undoubtedly, the entire world will, eventually, live in peace. The power and source of love, peace and hope were initiated in Jerusalem. Let’s not cut off these essential sources of comfortable life, rather benefit from them.
Peace is not something we expect to happen miraculously; people have to work for it. Unless you have peace, love and hope in your hearts, you cannot establish them in your areas, in your social life, even at your homes. We know very well the fruits of love, peace and hope are comfort, happiness and brotherhood.
The light of Christ’s Resurrection is already working, and you will be enlightened if you walk to it. Once you are enlightened, you become the child of Light, enlightening your surroundings. People will see that you have love, peace and hope within you; therefore, you will be trusted. People with love, hope and peace are more needed today for comfort. Today the entire world is under stress due to Corona virus epidemic which caused immense sufferings and deaths. I believe in the power of prayer, which Jesus himself prayed and encouraged us to pray as the answer to our worries.
On this happy holiday season, let’s become serious for a moment and think to see what we are missing in our lives and try to correct ourselves for our sake, for our families, for our friends and the world.
God bless you.
Fr. Samuel Aghoyan
At Armenian Patriarchate Jerusalem
April 13, 2020