Easter Sunday is the greatest celebration of the Church year. It is truly what allows us to have hope. Pope Francis in reflecting upon Easter writes: “Death, solitude and fear are not the last word. There is a word that transcends them, a word that only God can speak: it is the word of the Resurrection.”
In the beautiful Exsultet that is proclaimed at the Easter Vigil, there is a line that strikes me every year, “This is the night when Christ broke the prison bars of death and rose victorious from the underworld. Our birth would have been no gain, had we not been redeemed.” The Easter celebration and the promise of resurrection remind all of us that our faith in Christ is well-placed. Jesus fulfills the covenant that God the Father makes with his people especially through the prophets, and he invites us to believe in the power of the paschal mystery - his death and resurrection for our salvation! Without the resurrection we would truly be lost, but this great celebration offers us a blueprint of God’s plan for all of us.
I hope that the joy of Easter fills your heart and allows you to experience the power of God’s love for us. The Easter season lasts 50 days until the celebration of Pentecost, and it is a time to rejoice in Christ’s victory over the grave. The first eight days of the Easter season, the octave of Easter, are especially festive and culminate in next Sunday’s celebration of Divine Mercy Sunday. We will commemorate this feast with Eucharistic adoration at St. John Capistran Church from noon until 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, April 16th concluding with the Divine Mercy Chaplet. Please consider coming to celebrate this great octave of Easter.
On behalf of all the clergy and staff of Resurrection Parish I wish all of you a most blessed Easter season! Christ has truly risen; may we rejoice in his triumph! Alleluia!! Alleluia!!!