Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia! He is risen!
Happy Easter!
The whole Church rejoices as we celebrate the most hope-filled truth of our Christian faith. 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 we heard these words proclaimed:
“Exult, let them exult, the hosts of heaven, exult”
“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.
“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 were 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.”
I encourage each of you to pray for the graces to live as children of the Resurrection. Easter reaffirms the price that God was willing to pay for our salvation – “To ransom a slave [that’s us], God gave away his Son.” Awareness of this truth should empower us to live with great joy and hope.
Happy Easter!
Sincerely yours in Christ Jesus, the Way, the Truth and the Life,
