Happy Easter ! - President

[April 19, 2003 - 08.30 GMT]

President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga wishes all Christian brothers and sisters a happy Easter.

Full text of the message:

Message for Easter Sunday - 2003

I am pleased today to wish all our Christian brothers and sisters a happy Easter.

Christians around the World celebrate Easter today, a festival commemorating the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, and it is the principal feast of the Christian year.

The observance of Easter traditionally precedes a 40-day penitential season of Lent, beginning on Ash Wednesday and concluding at midnight on Holy Saturday, the day before Easter Sunday. The principal theme of Easter is Peace; it is the day the Prince of Peace rose from the dead to guide his flock.

The people of this nation have for too long been blinded by greed and a war of illusion and experienced the bitterness of hatred and animosity, and peace today is the burning need of our war weary peoples. Every man has the right to live and to live in peace; a dignified peace.

Jesus Christ confirmed the right to live, through his Death on the Cross as well as through his Resurrection. Let us humble ourselves before these sublime truths and shun all things that stand in the way of peace.

‘…all who humble themselves before the Lord shall be given every blessing and shall have wonderful peace."
-- Psalm 37:11

Let us on this Easter Sunday pray for an early dawn of those aspirations of peace cherished by all Sri Lankans.


Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga

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Last Updated Date: April 19, 2003  - 8.30 GMT.