Seized with Easter Joy!

“I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete."  ~John 15:11

"Through Christ's passion, His burial in the tomb and His glorious resurrection, we come to realize the enormity of the Lord's sacrifice for us. We may feel unworthy of His love who paid so high a price for our salvation. Let us not be afraid. Let's allow ourselves to be taken – even seized – with Easter joy. As we proclaim on Easter Sunday, 'Christ indeed from death is risen, our new life obtaining.'

"In the Gospel of John, chapter 10, Jesus says the shepherd calls his own sheep by name, 'I am the Good Shepherd and I know mine.' In chapter 20, how much fear and doubt must have gripped Mary of Magdala as she stood by the tomb? There, it was Jesus who rescued Mary from her fears and darkness by calling her name. Listen carefully.  Mary thought she had discovered the Risen Lord, but it was the Risen Lord who discovered her. Jesus calls out to each of us by name today as He did the very first Easter Sunday. His promise fulfilled. His word brings life, 'I am the Good Shepherd and I know mine.'

"Jesus waits for you and me, embracing us in our moments of greatest need and desire. Welcome the love of God into your life. Share it those around you, especially the most vulnerable of our sisters and brothers. In this way, we proclaim with Mary, 'I have seen the Lord.' Sing joyfully, 'the Prince of life, who died, reigns immortal.'  Happy Easter!"

~Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston and President of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Message for Easter Sunday, 2017 (see video of this message here)

"I will sing to the Lord as long as I live:

I will sing praise to my God while I have my being."

~Psalm 104:33

Living the Easter Message

“Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature."  ~Mark 16:15

It is through his Risen Life in us that Christ sends his love to the ends of the earth.

~Caryll Houselander in The Risen Christ

The Risen Shepherd goes in search of all those lost in the labyrinths of loneliness and marginalization.  He comes to meet them through our brothers and sisters who treat them with respect and kindness, and help them to hear his voice, an unforgettable voice, a voice calling them back to friendship with God.  

~Urbi et Orbi Message of Pope Francis, Easter 2017

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!!!

Is there anyone who is a devout lover of God?

Let them enjoy this beautiful bright festival!

Is there anyone who is a grateful servant?

Let them rejoice and enter into the joy of their Lord!

~from An Easter Sermon by St. John Chrysostom

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!!!

For with thee is the fountain of life;

and in thy light we shall see light.

~Psalm 36:9

Holy Saturday

In the evening weeping shall have place,

and in the morning gladness.

~Psalm 30:5

In God I trust; I shall not fear.

~Psalm 55:5

Good Friday

He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, and not into light.

~Lamentations 3:2

INTRODUCTION FROM THE WAY OF THE CROSS BY ANNE-MARIE PELLETIER

The hour has now come. Jesus’ journey along the dusty roads of Galilee and Judea, an endless encounter with afflicted bodies and hearts, a journey driven by his urgent need to proclaim the Kingdom, ends here, today. On Golgotha. Today the cross bars the way. Jesus will go no further.

He can go no further!

Here the love of God reveals its full measure, measure beyond measure.

Today the love of the Father, who wills that all be saved in his Son, goes to the extreme, where words fail, where we find ourselves bewildered, our piety overwhelmed by the superabundance of God’s thoughts and plans.

On Golgotha, contrary to all appearances, what is at stake is life, and grace and peace. Here what counts is not the kingdom of evil, which we know all too well, but the triumph of love.

Beneath the cross, too, what is at stake is our world with all its failings and sufferings, its pleas and protests, all those cries that in our day rise up to God from lands of dire poverty and war, from boats teeming with migrants…

How many are the tears, how great is the misery in the chalice that the Son drinks for our sake.

How many are the tears, how great is the misery, yet none of this will be lost in the sea of time. Instead it will be taken up by him, to be transfigured in the mystery of a love which vanquishes all evil.

Golgotha speaks to us of God’s unshakeable fidelity to our humanity.

A birth takes place there!

We need the courage to say that all this is about the joy of the Gospel!

Unless we recognize this truth, we remain trapped in the toils of suffering and death. And we fail to let Christ’s passion bear fruit in our lives.

PRAYER

Lord, our vision is dimmed. How can we walk this far with you?

“Mercy” is your name. But this name is madness.

May the old wineskins of our hearts burst asunder!

Brighten our vision with the good news of the Gospel, in the hour when we stand beneath the cross of your Son.

Then we will be able to celebrate “the breadth and length and height and depth” (Eph 3:18) of the love of Christ, with hearts comforted and flooded with light.


Pope Francis asked Anne-Marie Pelletier to write the Stations of the Cross to be led by him this Good Friday evening at the Colosseum in Rome.  Her Stations are available here, plus an article about her is available here.

These Holy Days

What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul!

The love of God has no bounds. As Saint Augustine often repeated, it is a love that goes “to the end without end.” God truly offers all of himself for each of us and holds nothing back. The Mystery which we adore in this Holy Week is a great history of love which knows no obstacles. The Passion of Jesus lasts until the end of the world, because it is a story of sharing in the suffering of all humanity and a permanent presence in the events of the private life of each of us. Indeed, the Easter Triduum is the commemoration of a drama of love which gives us the certainty that we will never be abandoned in life’s trials. 

Pope Francis, March 23, 2016