Resurrection joy

Christ the only Son of God has conquered sin and death. He who shared our humanity has shattered the darkness of the tomb and brought new life to all. At the Easter Vigil the Church’s minister sings the Proclamation, the Exsultet, and the Church speaks to all creation:

Rejoice, O earth, in shining splendour,

Radiant in the brightness of your king!

Christ has conquered! Glory fills you!

Darkness vanishes for ever!

The Resurrection is central to our faith and the Christian way of thinking and behaving. St Paul says to the community at Corinth: If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins” (1 Corinthians 15:17).

Because of Jesus’ Resurrection, our future resurrection is assured, but the Church teaches that right now “the risen Christ lives in the hearts of his faithful” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 655). Christians are empowered by the new life that flows from Christ “to live no longer for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised” (2 Corinthians 5:15).

The truth of Christ’s Resurrection is evident in the life of the Church today in various ways. One sign is the Walk Tall programme which began three years ago at the Maximum Security Prison, Arouca.

Signs of New Life

“Walk Tall” seeks to rehabilitate inmates so they can be reintegrated into society and contribute to it in productive ways. The importance of this programme cannot be underestimated. In Trinidad and Tobago, the recidivism rate stands at 56 percent.

In last week’s paper, Dixi Ann Belle described the programme that Fr Matthew d’Hereaux has been coordinating with a team of “Make It Happen” volunteers. Over 100 prisoners have benefited from the programme which covers such areas as personal development, anger management, critical thinking and counselling.

“Walk Tall,” by its very nature, speaks of the new life and hope that the Risen Christ brings. Those prisoners who have experienced conversion and “want to go to schools” to tell the truth about crime can, in a unique way, become life-givers.

Phase II of the project, the establishment of the Anthony Pantin Reintegration Centre, has already begun. In February, Archbishop Edward Gilbert turned the sod to begin construction of the facility where ex-prisoners will be able to spend from six months to a year in preparation for the world outside the prison walls.

In the coming months and years, much more support will be needed if the work of “Walk Tall” is to be deepened and its promise extended to other prisons in the country.

In another context, last week the Living Water Community opened Mercy Home, a hospice for persons living with AIDS. The Home, says Rhonda Maingot, celebrates life even as it prepares “our brothers and sisters for eternal life.” It is yet another distinctive sign of the Risen Christ among us.

May Easter 2006 remind all believers of the Christ who is urging us on to walk in newness of life.