Last year during Holy Week, British couple Teresa and David Jackson, participated in the liturgical celebrations with the parishioners of a Columban parish in the poverty stricken northern suburbs of Lima, Peru. They walked the dusty streets of the parish on Good Friday with the parishioners and celebrated the joy of the resurrection with them at the Easter Vigil.
The crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus became more real and immediate to the Jacksons as it becomes interwoven with the daily struggles of the people against the evils of inequality, discrimination, domestic violence, debt and corruption.
How will we walk with Jesus during Holy Week this year? How will our daily struggles become interwoven into the events of Holy Week? This issue of The Far East offers us many stories that can help us deepen our understanding of Holy Week and Easter.
Columban Fr Frank Hoare offers us a reflection from Fiji on Good Friday and Easter. Columban Fr William Morton writes of our journey through Lent to Christ’s Resurrection at Easter, with the offer of new life for us and for the world and what that means.
Columban Fr John Marley tells us about Rosa whose son died in a public hospital in Chile - her own personal Calvary.
Columban Fr Tim Mulroy gives us the story of a homeless man in Japan for whom it was very important that his name be known. Columban Sr Miriam Cousins tells us of her ministry over many years with women caught in prostitution in Korea. Columban Fr Shay Cullen describes for us the horror of child detention centres in the Philippines and the efforts made by the PREDA Foundation (People’s Recovery Empowerment Development Assistance) to liberate and offer ongoing support for these children.
Learning to live in another culture can lead to much confusion and misunderstanding. The story of a monk on a bus in Myanmar clearly illustrates how this can happen. Finally there is some good news from the 2015 Parish Climate Conference where people’s power helped to set a limit of 1.5 degrees to global warming.
As we walk with Jesus during Holy Week this year, as we accompany Him in His Passion and in His Resurrection, let us remember those who struggle on a daily basis with poverty, illness, homelessness and various forms of imprisonment. Let us find ways to bring the new life that Easter brings into our world.
Fr Daniel Harding
tfe@columban.org.au
Read more from The Far East, March 2016