EASTER MESSAGES

Apr 05, 2021 News

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Message of His Excellency Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali,President of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana on the occasion of Easter

The First Lady and I, and our son, Zayd, extend our heartfelt greetings to all Guyanese, at home and abroad, on this blissful Easter.
Easter is the most joyous season in the Christian calendar. It emphasizes the importance of sacrifice, forgiveness, hope, and faith.
These are the primary pillars on which humanity thrives. As Pope Francis noted in his Good Friday address and I quote, “To be happy is to let live the creature that lives in us, free, joyful and simple. It is to have maturity to be able to say I made mistakes; it is to have the courage to say I am sorry; it is to have the sensitivity to say I need you; it is to have the ability to say I love you.”
It is our hope of a better tomorrow that must allow us to free ourselves from anger, hateful thinking, and negativity towards each other. It is our ability to seek forgiveness, but first of all, to acknowledge our mistakes.
This Easter, let us come together as family and communities in peace, tolerance and hope in a future that brings us all together.
Christ’s selfless action and sacrifice must be the lesson through which we all should selflessly act and sacrifice for the greater good of humanity. As 1John 4:20 states, “Whoever claims to love God, yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.” Indeed, we are all brothers and sisters in humanity.
The coronavirus pandemic has been with us for more than a year. During this time, citizens have been forced to restrict their interaction with each other. Friends and relatives have been forced to reduce person-to-person contact in keeping with the COVID-19 guidelines. Most of our children have been away from school and the company of their classmates. Social gatherings and activities have been restricted. The restrictions have come at a price. Many businesses, including small enterprises, have suffered losses. Some workers have had to be laid off. Families have suffered a loss in incomes.
Easter traditionally has been a time to enjoy the outdoors. The long Easter weekend in Guyana is usually celebrated with a lot of activities, including kite-flying, family picnics, the annual Bartica Regatta, and the Rupununi Rodeo. The coronavirus pandemic, however, has forced us to curtail and limit these activities at this time.
Guyanese have borne these deprivations and sacrifices willingly, knowing that they are in the interest of protecting our people and communities. I express my gratitude to all Guyanese who have committed to making the necessary sacrifices to protect our people. I also reiterate my appreciation to our frontline workers who were and still are at the forefront of keeping our people safe.
Sacrifices made in the interest of others are never in vain. If we do the right things, we will derive the right results. I have no doubt that we will win the war against the pandemic. The Easter story resonates with the hope that victory will inevitably prevail.
Christ’s selfless sacrifice inspires us at Easter. His example continues to be a source of strength during the weeks and years ahead when we must remain vigilant and disciplined!
May God bless you and your families.
A Happy and Holy Easter to all!
Picture saved as President Ali

Prime Minister, Brigadier (ret’d) Mark Phillips

Fellow Guyanese, Easter is a time to reflect on the ultimate sacrifice of love. As we observe this holiday, I ask that we remember its significance and reflect on the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Messiah and Son of God. Remarkably, this story is given new life on the occasion of Easter each year.
Throughout generations, the story of Jesus has inspired millions to strive for a better world and to epitomize the virtues of Christ, as expressed in the Holy Bible.
His death stands out in history as the perfect example of selflessness and unconditional love. His life and teachings are centered on the importance of helping others and loving our neighbours, a universal practice across religions.
His unswerving devotion and mercy provide a remarkable example for all of us.
As we celebrate God’s gift of freedom and his love that conquers death, I remind you that it is our faith in this belief that must embolden our confidence that good overcomes evil and that joy nurtured by this season is everlasting.
On this occasion, my family and I revere God’s many blessings and pray for his peace in all affairs.

Leader of the Opposition Hon. Joseph Harmon MSM, MP

Easter Message 2021
Today, I join our Christian brothers and sisters in celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ and perhaps the most important words of the Christian faith – He is risen!
I extend warm Easter greetings to all throughout our nation. I am mindful that I do so at a time when the blessed message of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, signifying life, conquering death has never been more relevant and needed, given the prevailing situation in Guyana.
At Easter, we celebrate Jesus’s resurrection – the most important event in Christianity which is the core of Jesus’s message, ministry and mission on earth.
It is a celebration of hope, re-emergence and eventual triumph of life. Easter reasserts the power of hope over fear and that the dawn of daylight will come at the end of a period of darkness.
This is our second Easter in the grips of the COVID-19 pandemic. The measures prescribed to combat the spread of the virus have seen uneven application and poor enforcement by the PPP regime, resulting in an uncontrolled spread of the disease across our country.
The recent distribution of vaccines has given rise to some hope but an atmosphere of fear for life and livelihood in all sectors challenge this iota of hope.
Our ultimate hope is through our undying faith and resilience this situation would change from darkness to hope, confidence and optimism.
May God Almighty continue to bless us as a people and direct our path. Let us maintain hope and offer comfort to each other by our positive actions and with a determined spirit, knowing that we will rise above the challenges confronting our beautiful country.
I wish every Guyanese a happy, safe and peaceful Easter. I urge you to be responsible, judicious and considerate during this holiday period.
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CITY MAYOR, Pandit Ubraj Narine JP, COA

I wish to take this opportunity to extend heartwarming Easter wishes to the citizens of the City of Georgetown and Guyana at large.
Easter is the time of year that many Christian brothers and sisters celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, after three days of his crucifixion.
The significance of this holiday represents Eternal Life after death for those who follow Jesus Christ. Leading up to Easter, many Christians observe a period of fasting (known as “Lent”), whereby Easter Sunday marks the end of their fast. Easter also represents victory and renewal. It is a great example to our leaders to renew their honour and carefully understand the significance of sacrifice and putting others first.
Many symbolisms such as Easter eggs, bunnies, and kites will be seen around the globe, whether for religious reasons or simply because these are traditions that many follows. Traditionally in the City of Georgetown, many persons love to gather at the National Park and the seawalls simply to fly their kites for the season. Many attend church gatherings for fellowship, where they offer their gratitude.
During this time, many persons will purchase or bake cross buns. I admire our citizens for their optimism during this time while remaining hopeful and exercising love, care, and patience. As the Chief Citizen of the City of Georgetown, I wish to remain hopeful that our citizens will bear in mind that we are still in the middle of a pandemic, that persons will exercise carefully their judgments and continue to follow the COVID-19 guidelines during the Easter Holidays.
I know many of you look forward to the events for the Easter season but please remember what this Holiday represents, and I do hope that in these trying times, we remain hopeful and optimistic.
I wish you all an extra bright and happy Easter, filled with laughter, love, and clean fun.

PEOPLE’S PROGRESSIVE PARTY

Easter is one of our nation’s most anticipated holidays during which Guyanese from all backgrounds participate in the traditional kite-flying and other family-related activities that have become synonymous with the occasion. It is foremost a very sacred time for Christians across the world marking the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Easter also provides many pertinent lessons for all humanity through its teachings of tolerance, humility, love, and respect for others while offering an abundance of hope that one will rise despite being confronted with insurmountable challenges. It is that hope which gives meaningful purpose to all mankind for both personal and societal advancement. Unfortunately, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the need to adhere to all safety related protocols, kite-flying, and other activities will be restricted. As such, while our celebrations will be tapered, we urge that our spirits not be dampened as we reflect on the significance and messages of Easter and the importance it can play in helping to realize universal peace and brotherhood among all. The People’s Progressive Party (PPP) takes this opportunity to extend to all Guyanese, especially our brothers and sisters within the Christian communities here and abroad, best wishes on this auspicious occasion. Our Party also urges adherence to all COVID-19 preventative protocols.

PEOPLE’S NATIONAL CONGRESS

The People’s National Congress Reform extends greetings to the Guyanese nation on the occasion of the happy festival of Easter – the most important event in Christian doctrine. Easter celebrates Jesus’s miraculous resurrection and is the core of Jesus’s message, ministry and mission on earth.
The festival of Easter is observed at the conclusion of Lent, a period which replicates Jesus’s forty days of sacrifice, self-denial and suffering. The festival teaches us of the victory of Jesus’s virtue over Judas’s venality and his life over death. The Gospels of the Holy Bible recount Jesus’s agony in Gethsemane, followed by his arrest, accusation, betrayal, crucifixion and glorious resurrection.
The festival of Easter this year, owing to the prevalence of the deadly coronavirus pandemic disease, will find many Guyanese – except for our country’s doctors, nurses and medical personnel and enforcement officers and workers performing essential services – safely ‘at home’.
The message of Easter is a blessed reassurance that the Guyanese people can overcome the COVID-19 disease if we conduct ourselves correctly and comply with the public health measures aimed at protecting all of us in the year ahead.
The PNC wishes every Guyanese a happy Easter!

GUYANA AGRICULTURAL AND GENERAL WORKERS’ UNION

Easter celebration is meant to commemorate the death and subsequent resurrection of Jesus Christ, which development marks the very anchor of Christianity. It shows the acknowledgement and appreciation of the sacrifices of Jesus and his eventual triumph over the devil for the salvation of man.
Ordinarily, the celebration of this auspicious milestone on the Christian calendar is characterised by church festivities and kite-flying because of its great significance. However, as fate will rather have it, we are, today, not in ordinary times. The world, as we all know, is currently facing the biggest threat to the survival of man in many decades and centuries following the outbreak of the deadly COVID-19, which has, so far, claimed more than two million human lives globally with tens of millions of infections and counting. Similarly, the pandemic has had an incalculable debilitating impact on the global economy and for that matter on the general livelihood of people all over the world.
The situation in Guyana, unfortunately, is not any different from this global malaise as we continue to record rising cases of COVID-19. We nonetheless recognize the active efforts to bring the situation under control and to advance the vaccination efforts. We note the efforts, which we believe will redound to all Guyanese. We urge Guyanese too to heed the warnings and advice of health officials and seek to ensure that their celebrations are safe.
As we consider our present-day situation, the enduring message of Easter remains relevant. It reminds us, to some extent, of the challenges Christ and His disciplines faced in their times and the adversities they would have eventually overcome. It is a story of perseverance and the will of the people to confront those who seek to thwart what they stood for despite the tall obstacles put in their way. It is also a reminder that even the darkest of periods are only but a period and eventually that will soon pass. Indeed, we are confident, like in times before, as people have been gripped by one crisis or the other; we again will overcome and persevere, and we will become stronger and better for it all.
The Guyana Agricultural and General Workers’ Union (GAWU), at this time, extends Easter Greetings to all Guyanese and more especially to members of our Christian Community, both here and around the world, on this most event of the Christian Calendar. For the members of the Christian Community, the Easter story represents the fulfillment of God’s Prophecy that mankind would be offered the hope of eternal life through the sacrificial death of His Son, Jesus Christ and His subsequent Resurrection from the dead. It is this faith, which has kept the worldwide Christian Church alive and enabled its followers to significantly contribute towards making the earth a better place for all mankind.

GUYANA TRADES UNION CONGRESS

The Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) extends Easter Greetings to all Guyanese, particularly our Christian brothers and sisters. This holiday bears much significance to the Christian world for it symbolises a more compassionate approach in treating our fellowman. In the Christian faith, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who was betrayed by his disciple Judas, not only resulted in His crucifixion but brought salvation to all men. This equality in salvation acknowledges all are equal in worth and status.
Whereas Christ called on his followers to render unto Caesar (i.e. government) the things that are of Caesar (such as obeying law, paying taxes, etc.). He also condemned leaders who governed without compassion for the vulnerable in society. Guyana continues to face a crisis in governance. It is a crisis that ignores the vulnerable and treats the Opposition, their supporters, and those perceived to be opponents of the government as aliens and unworthy. The Constitution and Laws of Guyana are being violated and the rights of some citizens trampled on without impunity, a fact the United States noted in its just released Human Rights Report on Guyana.
There continues to be disparity in government’s management of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) based on regions, wards and age. The poor continues to be denied opportunities to economic upliftment given the absence of a Poverty Alleviation Programme. The working class, particularly unionised workers, continues to be denied the basic right to justice through collective bargaining and private sector workers, particularly in the commercial district, denied increased minimum wage as approved by the Tripartite Committee.
Each passing day, Guyana is becoming a tale of two cities, drifting further and further away from a nation established to treat all as equal and prefers none over the other. Dare it be said, these are principles that remind Guyanese of the teachings of Christ and His admonishment to leaders who failed to uphold these. Thus, GTUC calls on all Guyanese, even as we reflect on this solemn holiday, to be imbued with religious conviction to: “Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, and please the widow’s cause” (Isaiah 1:17).
The God of the Christians, though a God of mercy is also a God of accountability. His words must not only be preached in sermons and from the pulpit but taken to action. The Reverend, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. reminded us to: “Never, never be afraid to do what’s right, especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake. Society’s punishments are small compared to the wounds, which we inflict on our soul when we look the other way.”
GTUC therefore calls on the Christian community to put on the true armour of God and go into the highways and byways and do thy Father’s will, advocating compliance to the gospel to “ … seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, and please the widow’s cause.” Christian leaders have a moral and spiritual duty to do God’s will in the communities within which they reside and on behalf of the congregants sitting in their pews. May this Easter be the year of a call to action and spiritual awakening among Christians as done in days of yore and presently in other societies in taking public stands for justice and equality.

 

 

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