Christians across the world converged at their respective churches to celebrate Easter Sunday - a day set aside to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
In the Roman Catholic Church, the Easter vigil mass held on Saturday night transitioning into Easter Sunday is a highly sought-after celebration by the faithful globally. Away from the several activities within one mass, it also captures most emotions from bitterness to optimism and finally joy.
The Observer attended Easter celebrations at Kasese Catholic cathedral in Kasese town. Bishop Aquirinus Kibira of Kasese diocese led the celebrations. At 7:15 pm, Christians started gathering around a bonfire set in the courtyard of the church. The bonfire represents the resurrection of Jesus from the tomb.
In a procession, the vested Bishop Kibira walked through the crowd to an elevated ground, to recite a prayer before he proceeded to sprinkle water to bless the bonfire. After the prayer, Kibira lit the Easter candle to provide light to the congregation. Shortly after, he then led the congregation through a procession to the church.
Inside the church, the congregation was taken through a prayer by the main celebrant before making the Easter proclamation. Later, each person was required to light their candle, drawing fire from the Easter candle. In the darkening evening, this looked as beautiful as it looked pure.
The bishop, representing Jesus, was introducing light into the church for the first time since Good Friday. The candle represents Jesus Christ as the light of the world.
The congregation later settled down in the church, blowing out their candles and leaving the Easter candle as the sole provider of light. Even those that were taking the readings took them in the near-darkness. They used improvised light from a torch as the rest of the church was shrouded in darkness.
This was to prepare us for an encounter with Jesus, who brings light into our hearts dispelling the darkness there. Since Kasese is predominantly a Rutooro and Lhukonzo-speaking community, the first four readings were taken in either Rutooro or Lhukonzo. The remaining three readings were taken in English.
The first two readings were drawn from Genesis, the third from Exodus, the fourth from Isaiah, and the fifth from Ezekiel. The last two came from the new testament. These seven readings recount the outstanding deeds of the history of salvation.
After every reading, the choir sang a song relating to the reading before the main celebrant recited a psalm related to the reading. Until the fifth reading, the choir did not play any instrument as they sang; an opportunity for the Christians to contemplate the mystery of the passion, death and ultimate triumph of Jesus Christ over sin and death.
After the fifth reading, the candles were lit and the choir was allowed for the first time to play their instruments and for the congregation to participate in much more joyous songs. It is a perfect transition from sombre to perfect joy.
In his homily, Bishop Kibira ostracized Uganda's political leaders implicated in the infamous Karamoja iron sheets scandal, who ironically at the time, were most likely also attending Easter mass and service elsewhere in Uganda. He wondered why well-paid and educated leaders could decide to share items of the needy amongst themselves.
"What kind of examples are these ministers giving to the Ugandans? It is a shame that someone with a rosary around their neck is stealing poor people's things. These people [Karimojong] receive rain once in a season. We see a Catholic minister stealing these people's things. The same ministers are saying homosexuals should spend 20 years in prison, yet they are stealing iron sheets! So, for how many years should they be imprisoned? God forgive us. Return those iron sheets to the poor people who deserve them," he said.
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Kibira also took fault with the leadership at the ministry of Education and Sports for making the teaching of religion in Ugandan schools optional.
"We cannot accept that Religion is optional in our schools. I think the bishops of Uganda should raise something to the government about that. Making religious education optional in our schools can't work."
The mass ended past midnight on Easter Sunday, amidst celebration of newly baptised Catholics and the resurrection of Jesus.
