Sermon thoughts: For Easter Sunday from the parish Linz-St. Mark

Parish assistant Matthias List from Linz-St. Mark.

“Pura Vida!” – “real, pure life!” is how people in Costa Rica greet each other; I was allowed to visit our daughter in February this year, who is currently working as a volunteer in a social project in San Isidro in Costa Rica; I could hear again and again how the people there shouted this greeting to each other. And indeed, “pura vida”, real, real life abounds in this country of Central America!

Paradise and the aftermath

The lush green of the rainforest, the colorful flowers and animals, the screams of the parrots and the huge waves of the Pacific, the scent of a ripe banana or passion fruit – if I close my eyes, I can summon up all these wonders of the holiday. And the people there are different too: if the harvest is year-round, then there isn’t – like here – the pressure to put something back to get through the winter; the fruits almost grow into your mouth! The “Ticos” (as the inhabitants of Costa Rica call themselves) are happier and friendlier than our compatriots – at least that’s my impression; and that although we are many times richer!

Easter as a gift of real, eternal life

We celebrate Easter and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. For us it is the real, pure life that death could not swallow. Even more: This one resurrection of Jesus was something like the initial spark of eternal, real life, the resurrection for all of us!
Here already, now on earth, in that through him we have the strength to be good to one another, so that we can take the first step towards peace and dare to realize the good life for all people.

Happy Easter

And finally also for when the time has come and through death we are accepted into eternal life, into “pura vida”. This certainty can comfort us and teach us to survive this life here with less stress and pressure to perform.
In the risen Christ we are all given the pura vida, the genuine, real life! Happy Easter!

–