Seychelles' Christian leaders urge compassion, reconciliation on a stay-at-home Easter Sunday

Christians will celebrate Easter Sunday at home for the second consecutive year. (Sheila Montano) 

(Seychelles News Agency) - For the second year in a row, Christians in Seychelles will celebrate Easter Sunday at home and follow mass on television due to restrictions still in place on mass gatherings amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

In wishing all believers a Happy Easter Sunday, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church, Bishop Alain Harel, and Archbishop James Wong of the Anglican Church, emphasised brotherhood and the importance of reconciliation in their messages.

Harel said on this Sunday that the light of resurrection seeps in and truth, justice and brotherhood become possible.

"As the shroud of the sanctuary is torn in the temple, a breach opens in the walls built between humans and neighbours. Barrier gestures, social distancing, masks and the sanitiser, so necessary in this time of pandemic, definitely cannot be the 'new normal,' to use a fashionable expression," he said.

Harel said on this Sunday that the light of resurrection seeps in and truth, justice and brotherhood become possible. (Joe Laurence, Seychelles News Agency)  Photo License: CC-BY

The Catholic Bishop said that "the Easter light enlightens our eyes with compassion, opens our hands for sharing and opens a passage between humans and cultures."

Harel concluded by saying that "the light of the resurrection becomes a lamp for our footprint until the day when we will live forever with Jesus resurrected in an everlasting light."

On his side, Archbishop Wong said that believers journeyed through Lent with Jesus so as to reach the celebration of life upon death, the celebration of forgiveness and reconciliation over unforgiveness and resentment.

"We learnt through the steps of reconciliation that it is always inspired by God and that reconciliation with one another comes before being reconciled with God. We also discovered or rediscovered that it must be intentional and must be put into practice in prayer. In our Lenten pilgrimage we realise that reconciliation demands humility and it makes us vulnerable," said Wong.

Bishop Wong said that "from our human perspective, the resurrection is impossible but God made it possible for Jesus." (Joena Meme)  Photo License: CC-BY

He said although Easter is the end of Lent, resolutions made during the Lenten season should not be stopped but put into practice.

"From our human perspective, the resurrection is impossible but God made it possible for Jesus. Similarly, forgiveness and reconciliation by our own human will, can be difficult and hard to practise but by God's love and power. He makes these practices realisable for us," added Wong.

He concluded in saying that "Easter is the time when we celebrate the greatest gift of God, which is life. We thank Him for doing so much for us. And I thank you my dear fellow pilgrims for journeying with me in God's Kingdom through these last years."