As I sit down to write this Easter message for 2003 there is a great deal of uncertainty at home and abroad.
Who knows what state this world will be in by the time you get to read this letter. Will war have broken out in the Middle East? Will we have had the follow up rain that is needed to
break the drought? Will the tension between the United States and North Korea have intensified? Who will have won the World Championship of Cricket? Who
will for the next government of New South Wales?
On top of these things each of us has questions yet to be answered in our own life’s affairs. These questions
often depend on the age group we belong to. For HSC students the question hinge on exam results, pregnant mums wonder what the sex of their new child
will be, farmers always hang on the likelihood of a good harvest and good prices, people in middle age or older plan for their long term future and
retirement.
My spiritual director once told me that the spiritual life is about 90% waiting; 10% doing. I am not sure just
how he arrived at that ratio, but I do take his point. While we are busily occupied with life’s daily tasks and challenges, living very much in the
resent moment, not knowing the future and its far horizon, our hearts are waiting upon God’s promises.
The time Jesus lay in the tomb after that first Good Friday, when all seemed lost and many had given up hope, is a metaphor for the life of the faithful Christian, indeed, for all people
who believe and trust in God. God always fulfils his promises in his own good time.
If you consider the life of Jesus, that pattern of waiting and fulfilment is repeated many times over. His
childhood, of which precious little is known, was a waiting time as he prepared for the day he would begin his public life and ministry. His public
life involved a preparation for the day when his 'hour' would come. The day of betrayal and horrific suffering would never have been far from his
consciousness. At the same time, the sure and certain hope of his eventual rising from the dead would have given his waiting real meaning.
For the faithful Christian, waiting is not a passive, idle thing. It is a special kind of waiting that looks
forward eagerly with sure and certain hope. It is a source of encouragement to keep our spirits up in tough times and when answers seem far away.
It involves time spent in prayer, reading the Scriptures, especially the Gospels. In Lent, there is a special
call to self-denial, to give generously to those in need, to spend time in conversation with God. Our waiting, particularly in preparation for Easter,
involves our turning away from sin to believe in the Gospel, to have our sins forgiven in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, to joyfully rest in God’s
forgiving love, to welcome Jesus and share his life in the Eucharist, to take our place in the community of God’s People.
The fact of Jesus’ Resurrection from the dead is the basis and guarantee that our waiting for God to fulfil
his promises is not in vain. The fact of the Resurrection frees us up to make our contribution, to do what God has put here to do. One day it will make
sense.
+Most Reverend Christopher Toohey
Bishop of Wilcannia-Forbes