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n the days to come, Christians around the globe will celebrate Easter, a commemoration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Easter, though not as festive as Christmas, is celebrated mostly through family gatherings and feasts, not to mention traditions like Easter egg hunts.

Most importantly, Easter is not about a long weekend once a year but rather a reflective period to purify the soul.

Reflection on events happening worldwide must be undertaken. One clear event is the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, which caught 1.2 billion Catholics by surprise. Such an event had not occurred for 600 years.

Prior to the Easter celebration, the pope stepped down, leaving some unresolved questions about the need for reformation and modernity; a task his successor, Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina, will have to finish.

The new Pope Francis reminds me somehow of Jakarta Governor Joko “Jokowi” Widodo. Like Jokowi, the new Catholic leader has earned himself the title of game changer as evident in his decision to celebrate the Mass of the Lord’s Supper at the Cassal del Marmo, a youth detention center, which is unprecedented.

Pope Francis, within a month of his election, has had a great impact in terms of an approach that is not quite in line with long-held traditions. Perhaps if he continues like this, a lot of changes will occur, especially with reference to his previous stance on gay marriage. Perhaps he is the one to bring changes that plenty argue about.

Maybe, and just maybe, Pope Francis can finally put an end to raging conflicts in the Middle East, though frankly he can only aid by speaking his thoughts. Words might have been forgotten in the era when people talk about IP addresses and anything else that relates to the world’s connectivity.

We are all brothers and sisters to each other, a basic teaching of the Bible.

In the context of Indonesia, Easter will be celebrated at a time when vivid issues of humanity, such as the raid at Sleman Prison that left four people dead last week, arise and make us realize that we must value life.

Some agree that If the world returned to a time of ‘an eye is for an eye’, Indonesia would surely be a nicer nation.

Although controversial, the idea that the law will punish a criminal in accordance with or more severely than his offense merits, may have major implications. A murderer would end up in front of a firing squad, a drug dealer would be drugged to overdose, and a corruptor would pay dearly.

However, though it does represent an essential deterrent effect as the law should provide, it does not show that we are civilized humans with thoughts for our fellow mankind.

To reiterate, the spirit of Easter in a humble context brings us to the belief that we are brothers and sisters to each other, the forgiving ones.

The prison attack substantiates our forgetfulness that prison is a “correctional institution”, rather than a “redeeming institution”. The philosophy of the institution is to correct mistakes rather than punish, a teaching of Christ.

Therefore, Easter as a celebration of human salvation. Mercy should be given, and mistakes have to be corrected. Easter is not Eid Mubarak, but the two speak about the same divine teaching of forgiving.

Finally, Happy Easter. May the spirit of forgiveness prevail among us and across the world.

The writer is a freelance writer and contributor for Radio SBS Australia.