Alleluia! He is Risen!
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia! Happy Easter! He is risen! The whole Church rejoices as we celebrate the most hope-filled truth of our Christian faith. God so loved the word that he sent his only begotten Son to save us from the eternal consequence of sin. Jesus, the Word of God made flesh, through His saving sacrifice on the Cross has reconciled humanity to God. In rising from the dead, Jesus became the principle and source of our own future resurrection. Through the Easter miracle we are confident that, not only our souls can be saved, but our bodies too can have eternal life in the resurrection of the dead.
At the Easter Vigil, the first celebration of Easter that occurs during the night, we heard these amazing words proclaimed:
“Rejoice, let Mother Church also rejoice…
Our birth would have been no gain,
had we not been redeemed.
O wonder of your humble care for us!
O love, O charity beyond all telling,
to ransom a slave, you gave away your Son!
O truly necessary sin of Adam,
destroyed completely by the Death of Christ!
O happy fault that earned so great,
so glorious a Redeemer!”
Easter, and the holy days that preceded it, should reassure each of us of the blessing we have in Christ Jesus. How precious you are in God’s eyes. Yes, you, sinner though you are! “While we were still sinners Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8). Without the truth of Jesus’ saving death and resurrection, life has no real meaning. What hope would we have of anything beyond the grave was it not for God’s love revealed in Jesus Christ, the One who overcame death by rising from the grave? Even man’s rebellion against his creator, expressed in the “original sin” of our first parents, has, by the mystery of God’s love, earned for us “so great, so glorious a Redeemer.”
Let the truth about God’s love revealed in Christ’s passion, death and resurrection give us the faith to “not be afraid” and to rejoice in the Resurrection. Happy Easter!
Sincerely yours in Christ Jesus, the Way, the Truth and the Life,
