Happy Easter

Dear Parishioners and Guests: HAPPY EASTER! CHRIST IS RISEN!

Easter is not about brightly colored eggs, wearing pastels, or enjoying a big meal, although it could include these. Easter is about the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. For some, Easter will be a great day, spent surrounded by family and friends. But for others, it will be a sad day, because Easter is a reminder of a loved one who has died and is now desperately missed.

Death seems so cruel, so harsh, and so final. That is what the disciples were feeling when they saw their Lord, whom they had left everything to follow, hanging on the cross. They were devastated. Death had crushed them. But if they would have gone back in their memories, they would have recalled an important event and statement Jesus had made.

They would have remembered Jesus standing at the tomb of his close friend Lazarus. They would have remembered that Jesus did something completely unexpected: He wept. Jesus wept, because He knew that death was not part of God's original plan. Humanity was not meant to grow old, to suffer with disease, or to die. But because of the sin of Adam and Eve, sin entered the human race, and death followed with it. And death spread to all of us. Jesus wept, because it broke His heart.

But standing there at Lazarus' tomb, Jesus also delivered these hope-filled words: "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live". Death is not the end. And the resurrection of Jesus Christ proves it.

If you have put your faith in Christ, then Easter means that you will live forever in the presence of God. Easter brings hope to the person who has been devastated by death. The resurrection of Jesus gives us the greatest hope!

Next Sunday April 3rd, we celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday (the 2nd Sunday of Easter). This feast marks the pinnacle of our Easter celebration. The devotion to our Lord's Divine Mercy was especially encouraged by our late Holy Father, Blessed John Paul II, through the revelations of Our Lord's mercy granted to the Polish-born saint, Sister Faustina Kowalska. Special indulgences attached to this feast are obtainable for those who partake of the requirements attached to this feast (an indulgence is the removal of all or part of the temporal punishment due to sin- not the sin itself). To receive the indulgence, one must go to Confession within 3 weeks before or after Divine Mercy Sunday and to receive Holy Communion during this same period.

My brothers and sisters: our Deacons and I wish you and your loved ones a most blessed and happy Easter!