Wimmera's Christian community have welcomed the opportunity to gather for Easter in 2021 after the coronavirus pandemic saw services conducted remotely or moved online.

Horsham Parish priest Monsignor Glynn Murphy said last Easter marked a moment of reflection for his faith community, as lockdown provided a time for many to consider the human connection's nature.

"I think various people approached it in different ways. Obviously not being able to gather with family, especially interstate or in Melbourne, was a definite negative for people," he said.

"Missing that family gathering or human connection over the Easter period. However, there was also the ability for people to reflect."

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He described the 2020 lockdown as a period of "forced retreat and reflection" for people who were removed from friends and family.

"How I am spending my days, my time, what does it mean to see a world in a pandemic, what is valuable, what really matters?" he said.

"When we come out the other side of this, what are the things I will spend my time on? What are the things that I have seen that are more important than I had realised beforehand?

"I think all of those spiritual conversations are ones that people had, either by themselves or with family members.

"I think overall, a time of isolation can also be a time of valuable reflection."

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For 2020's Easter, Horsham Parish live-streamed its mass, allowing more parishioners from across the Wimmera to participate.

Mons Murphy said the inter-community live stream was preferable to no service at all, but the event was still celebrated in isolation from others in the Catholic community.

"I think that was something that parishioners felt very strongly. Then there were the older ones who weren't very savvy with the web and computers - many don't even have a computer," he said.

"For them, it was letter drops, bulletins, faith reflections with the scripture. These sorts of things would occur weekly."

He said the one message carried through from 2020 was the potential for the simple joys of life to be taken away abruptly and saw a reinvigorated faith among his community as a result.

"I think there was one common message that everyone would have got, and that is the frailty of the human condition - and therefore the frailty of human society," he said.

"I think also how important human connection is. I think the family is created to look after one another, to love your neighbour as yourself. There is an inherit value in the interconnectedness of humanity and as you take that apart, with the isolation of a pandemic, you saw the grief that it had brought many families."

The Horsham Catholic Church saw several families book remembrance services a year from when a loved one died during the pandemic.

Mons Murphy believes many rifts created during the pandemic were carried through into 2021, and in the spirit of the Easter holiday, could only be healed with a day of gathering and reflection.

"I think that the reality of the human heart being at one with others is so essential, and couldn't be expressed at times of people being very seriously ill or leaving this world," he said.

"There was a lot of grief from people not able to take that journey with their loved ones."

In 2021 the Horsham Parish will host Easter services' full suite, with masses across the Wimmera.

Mons Murphy said Easter was a focal point for the Christian faith.

"It brings the journey of life to people who spend a bit of time in the spiritual realm of their lives and life journey. Easter is for the Christian the message of life's journey. It encapsulates life's pilgrimage," he said.

"Who we are in this world, who we are called to be, how we are called to use our lives and our gifts with others, and for what purpose. What is the meaning of our life, and what are we forming in ourselves spiritually.

"Of course, the Christian believes we are forming that which will live forever. The sacredness of the family, the sacredness of understanding life is greater than ourselves, but we are also a very integral part of it."

For more information on Catholic Easter celebrations across the Wimmera, visit https://www.ballarat.catholic.org.au/parish/horsham/.

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