Easter for Christians is not merely a distant event unrelated to our lives, because Easter speaks to our present lives, about what happened to us and the world after Christ's resurrection, the Archbishop of Zagreb, Monsignor Drazen Kutlesa, said during Sunday's Easter Mass.

We live in a culture that, in a manner previously unknown to humanity, excludes God from public consciousness and increasingly manifests the destructive consequences of such exclusion, Kutlesa said.

He called for resisting the contemporary mentality in which people in their present lives cannot rely on Christ, nor do they think about the future and the afterlife.

The way we view others is decisive for my own humanity, he said, adding that it is possible for a person to use their eyes to recognize and respect the dignity of others and to guarantee their own dignity.

The drama of our time lies in our inability to see ourselves in the dignity to which we are called upon, Kutlesa said.

Rijeka Archbishop: Church should be opened to others and differences

Celebrating Easter Mass in the Rijeka Cathedral of St. Vitus, Rijeka Archbishop Mate Uzinic said the Church and Christians should be more open to others and differences.

We must be open to others, to the inclusion of those who are different, and to removing prejudices, as there are too many divisions and too much polarisation, he said.

We must expand our hearts and purify our gaze. Those who deny others their rights and suppress their dignity, because they look different or are of different origin, misuse the Christian faith and are less Christian than those who openly claim not to believe, said Uzinic.

Djakovo-Osijek Archbishop: True human greatness lies in humility, simplicity, and kindness

Jesus showed by His resurrection how great is the moral strength and greatness of a humble person, and that true human greatness lies in humility, simplicity, and kindness, Djakovo-Osijek Archbishop Monsignor Djuro Hranic said during Easter Mass in the Osijek Co-Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul.

In His Son, God showed that peace is built only by renouncing one’s power and interests, only through non-violence, patience, and forgiveness, He showed us how the struggle for power and influence always leads to terrible crimes, and that arrogantly asserting oneself and one’s power is often unworthy of a human and pitiful, said Hranic.

Jesus’ resurrection says that the realisation of someone’s interests and desires cannot bring into question the rights and needs of other people, that the world must change and that it can be better, more humane, and more compassionate, he said.

Let’s not think that our current social processes are unchangeable and that our Croatian society, with its serious demographic, social, political, economic problems, and political elites that sometimes succumb to their partisan interests, must fall. We need to learn from our national history that there have been more painful and difficult situations, greater divisions and tensions among the people, yet God has preserved us until today, Archbishop Hranić said.

At this moment in our history, each of us must strive to perform our duty in the family and society as honestly and as well as we can, and we must not remain silent in the face of any insult to the dignity of any person, he said.

We must never accept evil being portrayed as good, falsehood as truth, and delusion as the right path, Hranic added.