The bishops of the Bishops’ Conference of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) issued a joint message to all Catholics on the occasion of the greatest Catholic Christian holiday, Easter, which was read yesterday in Sarajevo by the Archbishop of Vrhbosna, Monsignor Tomo Vuksic.
In their joint Easter message, signed by Monsignor Tomo Vuksic, Archbishop and Metropolitan of Vrhbosna, Monsignor Petar Palic, Bishop of Mostar-Duvno and Apostolic Administrator of Trebinje-Mrkan, Monsignor Zeljko Majic, Bishop of Banja Luka, and Monsignor Marko Semren, Auxiliary Bishop of Banja Luka, it is stated that on every occasion of the celebration of Easter, “for the strengthening of faith in the life that will have no end, it is necessary to repeat and, for the testimony of our joy to all other people, it is useful to remind of the Church’s teaching according to which: “The resurrection of Jesus is the highest truth of our faith in Christ, and as the central truth believed and lived in the first Christian community, it has been passed on as the fundamental tradition, established by the writings of the New Testament, preached as an essential part of the Easter mystery together with the Cross.”
As stated, the resurrection of Jesus is the first in a long series of victories over death because “after him, what we also hope for, will come the resurrection of other people who have fallen asleep in peace.”
“Jesus’ resurrection is, therefore, an event in which death is overcome, and through this event, eternal life is given in the form of an offer and opportunity to everyone, because every person is already or will be in some grave,” the Easter message states.
It is emphasized that just as “the resurrection of the body occurs by breaking every bond with slavery in the darkness of his grave, so the revival and transformation of a person’s spirit occurs by stepping out of the blindness in sin and breaking every bond with slavery in the darkness of evil.”
“This spiritual release and break is, in fact, a precondition for freedom and a person’s resurrection to a better life on earth and then to eternal life. This exit of man from spiritual blindness and slavery, and his transition into a state of blessing and grace of the Lord, is also the meaning of Jesus’ mission. For he said of himself, that the Spirit of the Lord sent him into this world and among people with the intention ‘to proclaim freedom to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed.’ Accordingly, Easter can be celebrated properly only if one desires to abandon sin, that is, every form of cold darkness of the spiritual grave. That is, if one strives to leave the state of spiritual darkness and endure in the true life that is freedom from evil and acceptance of the good,” the Easter message states and adds:
“To all priests, monks, nuns, and other Catholic faithful in our dioceses, we wish happy and blessed Easter holidays with the desire to rejoice in the resurrection of Jesus and, with hope in their own resurrection and eternal life in spiritual freedom, always foster brotherly feelings and friendship with all people and strengthen the church community, the expression of which is also in our joint Easter message which, deeply grateful to the Spirit of God for that encouragement, we publish for the first time in this form.”
