Dear Friends in Jesus Christ…,

Hallelujah… He is Risen as he said, let us rejoice and be glad Hallelujah! In a conversation with one of the parishioners, he said to me, “I am not a Easter guy, but I am a Christmas Guy”. I asked him what he meant. I said if it was not for Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection, Christmas would have no meaning. Without Easter, Jesus is just another man who caused too much trouble. He got on too many people’s nerves, and paid for it with his life. But Easter reveals Jesus for who he is and reveals the cross for what it is.  The parishioner was a little upset with me.

Easter puts the cross in perspective and reveals it for what it is. The cross was not foolishness; it was the most profound encounter with God’s love humanity has ever experienced. It was not a result of a prophet whose miscalculations led to his death, but was an act of redemption with eternal significance. Easter reveals that Jesus was not just another prophet put to death for speaking out against the wrong people; He is the Messiah, the Savior of the world.

Without Easter, Jesus was still a profound moral teacher, a healer, an exorcist, and a prophet. But ultimately, he was still a foolish man who should have known enough to avoid such a gruesome and untimely end. But through the Resurrection we are enabled to see the truth for what it is. Christ didn’t come to reveal our need for a better system of ethics, he came to reveal our total dependence on God. Christ didn’t die foolishly, he died to reveal God’s boundless love for all creation (which includes you and me). Christ’s death reveals the world’s weakness and God’s strength. The Resurrection makes known to us an entirely new understanding of reality in which our perceptions of foolishness and wisdom are set aright. It is a reality that calls us not to see through the eyes of the world, but through the eyes of God.

Easter brings great meaning to our life and fills it with Joy. Easter teaches us that our suffering and miseries have meaning.  If the brutal Crucifixion of Jesus, the Son of God, can turn out to be the greatest event in all of human history, then your personal suffering, your burden, or even your sin, can very much become a source of great joy as long as you let God transform it into part of His Resurrection!

This is the meaning of Easter!  Easter means that nothing can keep us from the joy that God wants to give us.  Nothing can steal that joy away.  Sure, at times we will struggle just as Jesus did in the Agony of the Garden and the Way of the Cross, but those sufferings will not win. The Resurrection won with Christ and it will win with us when we cling to Him.  Jesus persevered and, in the end, rose victorious. This is Easter!

Know that God wants you to experience the joy of Easter in your life.  Let Him fill you with hope and with the joy that only the Resurrection can bring. God wants Easter to begin now in our lives!  Happy Easter!

God Bless You,

Fr. Tom