April 4, 2021

Dear Friends in Christ,

Alleluia, Jesus Christ has risen! Some 2,000 years after the birth of Jesus Christ, we live with certainty that our Lord rose from the dead three days after his crucifixion. Yet, as we learn from today’s reading in the Gospel of John, the loyal disciples who approached his empty tomb were not sure what to think.

They heard the testimony of Mary of Magdala, who surmised Jesus had been stolen from the tomb. They saw with their own eyes the burial cloths that lay to the side and the cloth that had been wrapped around his head sitting nearby. But, in the absence of their teacher’s body, they did not yet understand that he had risen from the dead. That realization would crystallize a week later, when Jesus Christ appeared to many of his disciples behind locked doors.

How did our faith cause us to believe? We, too, lack hard proof that Jesus Christ is the son of God and our Savior who freed us from sin. Yet, through our communal celebration of the Mass, our reception of Holy Communion and Confession, the prayers in our hearts and those spoken out loud and our service offered to those in need, we believe in Jesus Christ. We are grateful, too, that in his death, we live. In his resurrection, we are saved.

Today, as we begin our 50-day meditation on the Easter season, let us contemplate the mystery of Jesus Christ’s resurrection and what it means in our lives today. I wish you and your families a very Happy Easter Day and a beautiful start to our Easter season!

Yours in Christ,

Fr. John