By Mudita Menona Sodder
Mumbai, March 30, 2026: As we celebrate Easter 2026, the world witnesses a war that defies logic, evades accountability, and unfolds on a moral battlefield stripped of morality, while some busily count strategies, alliances, and victories. War is not heroic, intelligent or essential.
It is a result of history’s most twisted tragedies and perversities. What a travesty it is to blow life apart! When the gigantic dinosaurs created chaos on Earth, making life difficult for smaller creatures of God, an asteroid struck 66 million years ago, leading to their extinction. This enabled the smaller creatures to thrive and a new era emerged. As such, the middle-east war may be a blessing in disguise, this Easter.
Over the years America has mostly been the Big Brother engineering conflicts and wars across the globe, and then playing rescuer and saviour to the devastated countries. The fall of the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001 came as a challenge to the unilateral power structure. Can the present Middle East war change this structure?
Easter is the triumph of the undefeatable dignity of human life, in fact the affirmation of all life. The Risen Christ affirms that every life is uncompromisingly dignified and valuable. Every creature possesses an infinite dignity inalienably grounded in his/her/its very being.
Easter and the triumph of life
The Resurrection of Jesus is the “initial ignition” that set in motion early Christianity and the power that sustains it now. Jesus endured an ignominious death reserved for slaves, non-Roman citizens, and the worst criminals. However, after an encounter with the Lord, one is filled with a new courage and dynamism, braving the might of any obstacle or person coming in the way.
This incredible transformation is possible even today, in any of us, ordinary human beings, because it was wrought by the resurrection of Jesus, the great manifestation of the power of God Almighty (Mk 9:1, 12:24). The resurrection experience enables one to see all in a new and brilliant light.
Jesus atoned for the sins of humanity in the spirit of the servant of Yahweh. He has thus reconciled humanity and all creation to God and opened up a renewed world, having broken the power of death, evil and sin. Salvation has now become a reality for all, through repentance and faith in him.
In the resurrection of Jesus, God triumphs over death (Mt 28:2). By Jesus’ death-resurrection, he has been exalted to God’s right hand as the Son of Man, the cosmocrator who has authority over heaven and earth. In the death-resurrection, the turning point of salvation history, all the limitations of territory, religion, race and law are fully overcome. Jesus remains with the church on mission as its source of power and sustenance.
No cross, no empty tomb, no crucifixion, no Resurrection. The cross is the victory; the Resurrection is the triumph. I can put truth in a grave, but it won’t stay there. I can nail it to a cross or wrap it in winding sheets or shut it up in a tomb but it will rise, as Jesus did for, He is Truth.
The dark panorama in which we live in today, with the horror of war, violence, environmental destruction, unjust deportations are all “illnesses” leading to death. In today’s world, doing seems to dominate our life, while being gets a backseat.
War, ecocide, and Easter hope
True renunciation is not withdrawal from life, rather it is freedom from craving, attachment and egos which need to control outcomes. Seeing the Divine in all, is a state which is achieved through consistent selfless action. Being is presence without aggression.
Being means accepting what is, without resignation and acting when needed without inner disturbance. When grounded in being, actions arise naturally and proportionately. There is less urge to control outcomes or force a change. One learns to peacefully ‘respond’ rather than aggressively ‘react’ to situations. Life is a dance between doing and being. Peace does not come from withdrawing from life, but from knowing when to act, and when to simply be. It is a state in which all doing happens with full awareness.
It is hard, but beautiful to nurture life. We are in the Anthropocene epoch. We will experience massive consequences in the forthcoming decades as a result of the present Middle East wars. These enormous explosions, bombs and ammunition will stay in the land. They will poison earth, air and underground water.
There will be more desertification, depletion of water and poisoning of soil.All this will further explode in dispossession and forced migration of many. War and ecocide go hand in hand.
In an era of fragmented, high-intensity regional conflicts or a Poly-Crisis war; drawing from the deep well of my own spirituality, and trusting that our endangered and fragile world too is carried tenderly in the Pierced Heart of Jesus along with our suffering sisters and brothers; my little faith in a big God, assures me that God is in control and has a purpose and a plan for everything.
Having given us a free will, He works continuously, writing straight on our crooked lines, building the emerging future, amidst much uncertainty. Let us move towards awareness with Easter Hope. Happy Easter 2026!
Sister Mudita Menona Sodder, a member of the Indian Province of the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, serves as JPIC (Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation) coordinator for her congregation. With decades of teaching, leadership, and eco‑spirituality work, she has been deeply engaged in faith‑based justice, interreligious dialogue, and environmental advocacy.
Sister Mudita has eloquently given testimony to her deep faith in the destiny of all humans and all creation, notwithstanding the folly of war and other human catastrophes facing us today. She inserts meaning and purpose into the Easter festival by linking faith to active action and solidarity to usher in a better world.
Her sterling message needs to be taken to heart and lived by.
What is celebrated, or happens on Easter is not celebration of the empty tomb, but an occasion to drink,make merry a cosume all creatures that swim, fly, walk, after a protracted lent where prople religiously take to avoiding meat and other worldly pleasures in the name of ‘meditating’ on Christ’s sacrifice. It’s too naiveté to even imagine that Easter would have a semblance of effect on the mad men who started the current war dessimating West Asia.