Bishop Sabino's Easter message of Hope and Transformation, Embracing the Essence of Easter, a Call to Self-Transformation, Honoring the Legacy of Faith, Acknowledging Our Shared Responsibility, Looking Towards the Future with Hope, A Message of Unity and Renewal.
As the world marks the joyous occasion of Easter, bishop Sabino reminded believers of Arua Diocese of the enduring power of faith and its trans-formative potential.
This was during the holy sacrament of the mass that was celebrated on Easter Sunday at Ediofe Catholic Cathedral in Arua City that gathered Christians from all over the diocese of Arua and beyond.
In a stirring message, delivered amidst the backdrop of Lenten preparations and the culmination of six weeks of prayer and sacrifice, bishop called upon the faithful to embrace the spirit of Easter with a renewed vigor to acknowledge Christ in their lives.
Bishop invited the Christians to embark on a journey of self-transformation guided by the power of the risen Lord noting that through faith and belief in the resurrection, believers are empowered to overcome obstacles and embrace a life filled with purpose and meaning.
He urged the faithful to focus their energies on endeavors that unite and draw them closer to one another and to God.
Easter Sunday Homily - Bishop Sabino Ocan Odoki.
You have been preparing for this day for so long. Six weeks of lent. Praying, making sacrifices fasting and giving arms. And the day has finally come. Let us thank God who has helped us through the season of lent to bring us to this great celebration. If the Lord does not help us we shall labour in vain.
Even what we want we shall not get. Whatever good that happens to us. Let us see it with the eyes of faith that it is God who is helping us. And to be always taking God as your helper empowers you. The believe in the resurrection of Jesus empowers us. It gives us energy and hope. If you are a person of no hope, you remain weak. You can't even see far. But when you have hope you have a reason to continue with your life. People who have no hope resign and that is the end. What good is that. So the hope that Jesus gives us in his resurrection is power.
It is strength that keeps us going. When you have a reason to keep going you will have energy to keep on going. So the celebration of Easter is the most powerful energy that God gives us. Without which there would be no believers. And imagine what we would miss. So much, because if you look in the history of humanity, Christianity brought civilization. A lot of civilization has come from the church, this is the power that the risen Lord has given to those who believe. They start to do things for others in the name of Jesus, in the name of God. You go to Europe, America you find all the great institution founded by the Church. Institutions of education, Institutions of health, and many other services. What made these people to do this? It is there believe in the risen Lord. Believe in God. Unfortunately in the world of today many people are not recognizing what Christianity has done to us. Let us not forget. Even we here in Uganda, with the coming of the missionaries, we started to have schools, we started to have hospitals, we started to have many other services that keep us together to get better.
You take away what the church has done. You will see that we are left almost with nothing. So we thank the missionaries who have done this to us. Bringing us the good news of the risen Lord. Can we thank these missionaries? We forget history so fast. And now it is our turn to believe in Jesus and have that power, that energy to carry on with the work of God. So to believe in the risen Lord. Jesus Christ is to have the power of God. We heard it from the first reading, Peter who was so afraid, scared when Jesus died. You remember even while following Jesus on the way to Calvary, just a little girl like this one here, said, but are you not one of them? He said, "but you girl, what are you saying? I don't know him." You remember what Peter said? Do you remember when a little girl remembered Peter was with Jesus?
After the resurrection, Peter was now full of that energy from God. Full of the spirit of the risen Lord and was telling the people. This is Lord Jesus. Whom God has sent for our salvation, you have killed him, but now he is risen. Can you imagine, the power that comes from believe? The power that comes from the risen Lord, can transform us all to do greater things. And from the gospel taken from St.John, we heard that when Jesus was now in the Tom, Mary Magdalene who loved Jesus so much left the house where they were hiding in the dark and was going to anoint the body of Jesus. It was not done. The burial was done in a hurry because of the Sabbath. The spirit of the risen Lord was working now in her. She was no longer afraid of that darkness. We are often told stay at home In the night. You don't know what can come on your way in the night. But Mary Magdalene left house where the apostles were. And she found that the tom was empty. This could be more scary. But she went back to the apostles, where they were hiding and told them, they have taken away the body of the Lord. You can imagine, Peter who was so afraid and the apostles who were so afraid? Peter and John left in the dark to go and see what Mary Magdalene is telling them. Even for them to move out of the house is a clear sign that the spirit of the risen Lord is already working in them. Changing them. And am told when they believed they told other people that the Lord is risen.
The new experience they started to have of the risen Lord transformed them. So whoever believe that Jesus is alive. Is going to have power and the energy to do greater things. We know with the apostles, they were no longer afraid, they went all over the world to proclaim this risen Lord Jesus Christ. Just as we heard from the acts of apostles. Peter was preaching at Cornelius's house, Peter taught all the people who had gathered there. He told them about the gospel of Jesus Christ, and they felt the Holy Ghost and knew it was true. This is because of the power of the risen Lord.
So my dear brothers and sisters. We are celebrating Easter. This power of the risen Lord has to enter us. With this celebration, we should never be the same. The power of the risen Lord should transform you to do greater things for your self, for your family, for your christian community, for your chapel, for your parish, for your Diocese and for your country and for humanity. All you should aim at is to do greater things in the name of the Lord. You will see the world changing so so much.
I received a letter from our chairman of Uganda Episcopal Conference sending us greetings for Easter. He is wishing all of us a happy Easter. This is a good example for us. Today, who ever you meet. You say happy Easter. But should be with a smiling face. Can we smile a bit today. I know some people have difficulty in smiling. When I go out to pray in the parishes, the children always sing for me songs. "Our bishop can you smile a little." I say really these children can make me smile. So today, we should do the same as these children. We should make others smile. Because the Lord is risen. That is also power in you. If you say to some body, happy Easter, the Lord is risen. And don't be discouraged if somebody do not answer you well. You only imagine he or she is a slow learner. Yes. You some people will get the message and understand later. So do not blame them. Some people when you make a joke, they will go to laugh at their home. Yes! There are people like that. They will say, did you hear? He was talking like this. And then they laugh and laugh and laugh. So don't worry when you don't get a good reception. You have done your part. And the spirit will do the rest. So our chairman is wishing us happy Easter and he is also appealing to us that the spirit of the risen Lord should help us to do greater things. Because in Uganda, majority are Christians, he said despite this fact we still hear a lot of bad things happening. That means we are not allowing the spirit of the Lord to work in us. We hear a lot of corruption, a lot of domestic violence. And so many evil and yet we are a Christian country. So let us make an effort. Even when it is as little as a drop of water in the ocean. Do something. Bit by bit we shall win. Bit by bit we shall bring change. We should let the spirit of Christ work in us.
And St Paul in his letter to the colotians, is helping us by giving us some idea on how we can do this. We have to put our hearts and minds on what is above more than what remains in this world. We have to put more effort on our spiritual life more than what we have in our earthly life. St.Paul in his letter is teaching us. How we can being about this transformation if we put our priorities right. Our priorities must be first and foremost, God. This should be the priority.
What is on heaven is more than what is on earth and what is on earth is passing. What is above will remain for ever. Keep of praying. Do work of charity. Keep on journeying together with others. Whatever does not bring us together and closer to God should not be our way. Let us make the Easter our starting point for our self transformation. Through the power that comes from the risen Lord. Indeed there is power to do greater things in the risen Lord. As the apostles did, as the missionaries did. And as Church is continuing to do today. Be one of the Key players. Let us allow the power of the risen Lord to shade off the darkness in us do that we are free to do greater things and let us put our minds and hearts on God above all things. I wish you a wonderful celebration of Easter. And God's abundant blessings in your life.
