At the Easter Vigil Mass celebrated at the Cathedral of Christ the King, the Local Ordinary of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Johannesburg reaffirmed the core of Christian faith: the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Speaking to a full cathedral on Holy Saturday night, Cardinal Stephen Brislin said, “The Resurrection of Jesus is the prime source of our hope, it is the reason for our faith and the purpose of our lives.”
Drawing from St Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, Cardinal Brislin highlighted the foundational nature of the resurrection. He said, “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain” (1 Cor 15:14). “But” he added with conviction, “In fact, however, Christ has been raised from the dead” (v.20), a truth testified to not only by the early disciples, but by generations of martyrs and saints who lived and died for the Risen Christ.

The new Archbishop of Johannesburg Archdiocese reminded the congregation that hope in the resurrection extends beyond this earthly life, “If our life in Christ has been for this life only, we are of all people the most pitiable,” he said. For Christians, he explained, “life is changed not ended,” because baptism is a passage into eternal life. “To put on Christ’ means to model our lives on Christ, to live for Christ, to live in Christ,” he affirmed.

Emphasizing the communal nature of resurrection, the 68-year-old Cardinal said the, “Resurrection is not a matter of personal, individual resurrection. It is the restoration of life itself to how God created it from the beginning.”
He warned against a passive interpretation of hope, insisting that Christian hope must be active. “Hope does not mean that we can sit back and say that God must do everything. As Pope Francis has said, every act of mercy is an act of hope.”

In a striking and honest reflection on South African society, Cardinal Brislin pointed to the many signs of a “culture of death”: violent crime, poverty, gender-based violence, and corruption. He condemned the failure of public systems that dehumanize the vulnerable, such as pensioners and the sick. “We use all the right words of batho pele and ubuntu, but our actions contradict what we say,” he lamented.

He questioned the sincerity of proposed national initiatives, such as the national dialogue: “Is it just going to be more words, more promises, the promotion of particular ideologies? Or will it really be an opportunity to listen to civil society and seek genuine solutions?” he questioned.

Turning to global crises, Brislin denounced the wars in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ukraine, and especially the devastation in the Holy Land. “In that land children and women continue to be slaughtered daily in Gaza and in the West Bank,” he said. “It becomes clearer that the intention is ethnic cleansing even if it means genocide.”

He called out the complicity of nations that ignore or justify these atrocities, saying such indifference “undermines the advances of the past for the protection of human dignity and human life.”Yet, even in the face of such darkness, the message of Easter is one of certainty and endurance. “Christ is victorious and his victory is certain,” the Cardinal proclaimed. “In the meantime, it is our task and our joy to be pilgrims of hope to people who are crying out for hope.”

As Christians, he said, we are called to be the voice of Christ in the world, “We have Christ within us and we cannot be silent, his word must be proclaimed, it must resound to the ends of the earth.” Quoting Pope Francis again, he said, “The first sign of hope should be the desire for peace in the world,” and added, “Peace takes courage, because the violent – whether violent in words or in actions – are the bullies of society.”

Cardinal Brislin closed his homily with a prayerful wish: “May this Easter season be one of great joy for you and your families. May it inspire all of us to be the servants of Life and hope in the world. May the joy of the Risen Lord fill your hearts… that we may all be the bearers of that hope to those who are dejected, lonely and in despair.”
On a night marked by flickering candles, ancient hymns, and joyful proclamation, Cardinal Brislin’s words reminded the faithful including the 15 catechumens and candidates that Easter is not merely a celebration of the past—it is a present and living call to witness to hope, to mercy, and to life.