Wishing My Christian Friends a Blessed and Safe Easter

His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama

Celebrating Easter during the COVID-19 pandemic presents a serious challenge to all Christians who wish to worship on this most holy day while quarantined or sheltered-in-place. Please stay safe and healthy. Protect yourself and those around you. You do not need to attend church to celebrate Easter; there is no need to worship in a building to prove you are pious and devout in your beliefs. Worship in your heart and thoughts. The god you worship will hear you. Bishop Michael Curry, head of the Episcopal Church, proffered: "To love your neighbor is to love God. And one of the most loving things we can do this Sunday is not gather in a public assembly so that nobody else gets sick. It is an act of worship."

One needs only to look to the Gospel According to Matthew 6:1: "Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven." Matthew 6:5-6 further warns us to be true to our faith. "And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."

His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, the leader of my own faith, reminds me of this everyday. "This is my simple religion. No need for temples. No need for complicated philosophy. Your own mind, your own heart is the temple. Your philosophy is simple kindness."

So please be kind to yourself and others and worship safely and responsibly today and every day.

Happy Easter and Namasté.