Zagreb, (IKA) – The Archbishop of Zagreb, Cardinal Josip Bozanić, sent an Easter message to the faithful in which he emphasizes that the time of preparation for the celebration of Easter is a time of the indivisible bond between faith and Christian love for those most in need and that the Church cannot justify its existence without attending to the concrete people about whom Jesus spoke and for whom he brought his Good News.
“This permeation of faith and love is important so that, on the one hand, we do not become lost in superfluous discussions for their own sake, while ignoring people’s needs, and on the other, so that the Church is not perceived exclusively as human solidarity, whereby the primary focus would be its social commitment, without a spiritual foundation. It is easy to slip into one of these extremes, forgetting that man’s greatest need is God,” explained the Cardinal.
Pope Francis’ exclamation, “Oh, how I would like a poor Church, and for the poor,” invites every Christian to reexamine his own attitudes. “Likewise, it is inappropriate to divide the Church into the charitable and evangelical. Although many will praise the Church when it helps people in need, they will also denounce the same Church when it defends human life, moral values and the meaning of existence, and calls attention to what makes people unhappy, alienated and downtrodden. We should not be confused by these contradictions because our religious calling is to alleviate all forms of human suffering according to our possibilities, as well as to stir consciences, beginning with ourselves in re-examining our own faithfulness to God. Otherwise, we could become part of those attempts that impoverish the person. As we know from personal experience, Christian life is not unidirectional but requires reciprocity and complexity,” said the Archbishop of Zagreb and explained that if in everyday life “we separate faith from love or think that faith is unnecessary, then our relationship with God will be severed and selfishness will grow.” Works that do not spring from true values, based on that which transcends man, easily become mere moralism, said the Cardinal.
“Since the Christian message in itself is defined as the Good News, it is full of hope because of Christ’s Resurrection and his presence in the life of every believer and the whole Church. Christian joy in the Resurrection has roots in the call to salvation through participation in the life of God that he revealed to us in the act of love of the surrender of his Son. I think that today it can be said that in the omnipresent human longing for fullness and happiness, in hope, it is possible to see traces of belief or the path to the profession of faith,” said the Cardinal in his message, cautioning that modern man often lives in contradiction to the integrity of his existence and relationship with God. As soon as it seems that he is nearing his direct goal, he feels dissatisfied because he has not quenched his inner thirst, and is unable to live in an open manner toward the future. When the reality of the person is not accepted, with its beginning and answer to hope for eternal life, there is fear of the future and closure toward the mystery of life. This is the reason for the aging of a civilization. An unclear position toward human life and its goal leads to problems regarding natality. Frequently, there are attempts to depict phenomena of decadence as progress. Ultimately, these seemingly narrow sociological questions—of such importance for every human society—are seen to be related to questions of faith,” explained Cardinal Bozanić, adding that in the event of Christ’s Easter is the fullness of the mystery of human life, in which a way out of the darkness of death into the certainty of living hope is seen.
Speaking about St. Joseph, Pope Francis particularly highlighted his role as protector and set this virtue before every Christian as a call to respect each of God’s creatures and the world in which we live, because it is in this world that God’s plan is written and, therefore, protection opens a horizon of hope. Therefore, Cardinal Bozanić emphasized in his message that to be “a protector in the manner of Joseph applies to all the periods of human life: conception, birth, living, work and death; marriage as a union of one man and one woman.” According to the Cardinal, in each of these areas, contemporary Western culture is showing serious cracks, and in Croatia these are precisely the places where the ship of state is tilting dangerously. These are issues that concern all people and citizens of the country who care about values that will prevent our becoming lost in the meanderings of selfishness and neglect of that which is most important. Anthropological precepts are the foundations of social sensitivity, solidarity and fruitful communication among the members of society and—ultimately—love, said the Archbishop of Zagreb, stating that the needy and poor must have a privileged place in Christian communities and that parishes and other Church communities should pay particular attention to effective charity.
The Cardinal’s Easter message was presented on Wednesday, March 27, in Zagreb, by the head of the Press Office of the Zagreb Archdiocese, Ivica Budinšćak, who also announced events to be held in the Zagreb cathedral during Holy Triduum, which will be led by Cardinal Bozanić.