Dear parishioners,

After exactly 46 days since Ash Wednesday, here we are, festively entering the Easter season with the celebration of the Lord’s resurrection this Easter Sunday. Our Lenten observances have now led us to savor the joy of Easter, of growth and renewal.  The resurrection of the Lord is a crucial event and the most important celebration of the year; our faith and the very essence of Christianity depend on it. As St. Paul said, "and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is without substance, and so is your faith." (1Cor. 15:14)

The resurrection of Christ is a profound and meaningful event. Through his resurrection, Christ has defeated Satan, sin and death and has equally freed us, his followers, from the bondage of sin. As we celebrate the victory of good over evil and as we rejoice and sing Alleluia because Christ is risen, and rightly so, let us remember that the resurrection of Christ also calls for responsibility, action, and commitment on our part. Just as Jesus never went back to his tomb when he rose, we are invited never to go back to our “empty tombs,” that is, to our old sinful habits, to those places, people, and circumstances that are empty and cannot give us life. In the words of St. John XXII, “Our Easter is therefore for everyone a dying to sin, to passions, to hatred, to enmities, to all that is a source of imbalance, bitterness and torment in the spiritual and material order. This death is in fact only the first step towards a higher goal: since our Easter is also a mystery of life.” That is why St. Paul said in our second reading: “If then you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Think of what is above, not of what is on earth.” (Col. 3:1-2) We are an Easter people; and what St. Paul says above is what it means to be an Easter people: a people that rises through sacrifices to a new life of virtue, communion, love, service, justice, and peace. Let us remember that just as there is no Easter Sunday without Good Friday, so too, there is no spiritual growth without effort and sacrifice. The resurrection of Christ should give us all the reasons to keep going, to keep struggling on our spiritual journey without losing hope no matter the weight of the cross we might be called to carry or the sacrifices we might make. As St. John Paul II said: “If this mission may sometimes seem difficult, call to mind the words of the Risen Lord: ‘I am with you always, to the close of the age’ (Matthew 28:20). Certain of his presence, you shall fear no difficulty and no obstacle. His word will enlighten you; his Body and his Blood will nourish you and sustain you on your daily journey to eternity.”
 
As an Easter people, we have in us the spirit of the risen Lord. It is not the spirit of timidity or fear, but the spirit of sonship that gives us the power of Jesus to carry out our Christian duties with courage, love, patience, and joy. May the same spirit of the risen Lord animate our parish family.
Some of our parishioners will be receiving the sacrament of confirmation on Saturday, April 15th at the 4:00 pm mass. Let us join in praying for them.

Blessed and Happy Easter to all!

Fr. Augustin