Happy Easter!
A happy and joyous Easter to all of you! Alleluia!
If you’re new to the Church or haven’t been with us for a while: welcome! The Body of Christ is more complete when you are with us, so we’re happy to have you—and we hope and pray that you will join us again on Sundays to worship the Risen Lord together in faith.
I want to offer my many thanks to all who have made our celebrations so beautiful during this Holy Week and Easter. The choirs, musicians, those who helped with decorating the Church, and all who volunteered for the various liturgical responsibilities—it takes a village, as they say, and it always fills my heart with joy to see the participation of so many in the life of discipleship in our parishes. Please also continue to pray for our neophytes (the men, women, and children who enter the Church this Easter)—that the graces they receive would unfold powerfully in their lives.
I want to share with you a beautiful homily “from an ancient author” that the Church meditates on during this octave of Easter. I always love reading these old homilies, because it reminds me how ancient these mysteries are that we celebrate, and how timeless God is. Certainly, a lot has changed in our world over the centuries—but one thing has remained changeless: God. The Resurrection still stands as our perennial invitation into a shared life in God. I hope these beautiful words aid your prayer as we commence our Easter celebrations! ALLELUIA!
Saint Paul rejoices in the knowledge that spiritual health has been restored to the human race. Death entered the world through Adam, he explains, but life has been given back to the world through Christ. Again he says: The first man, being from the earth, is earthly by nature; the second man is from heaven and is heavenly. As we have borne the image of the earthly man, the image of human nature grown old in sin, so let us bear the image of the heavenly man: human nature raised up, redeemed, restored and purified in Christ. We must hold fast to the salvation we have received. Christ was the firstfruits, says the Apostle; he is the source of resurrection and life. Those who belong to Christ will follow him. Modeling their lives on his purity, they will be secure in the hope of his resurrection and of enjoying with him the glory promised in heaven. Our Lord himself said so in the gospel: Whoever follows me will not perish, but will pass from death to life.
Thus the passion of our Savior is the salvation of mankind. The reason why he desired to die for us was that he wanted us who believe in him to live for ever. In the fullness of time it was his will to become what we are, so that we might inherit the eternity he promised and live with him for ever.
Here, then, is the grace conferred by these heavenly mysteries, the gift which Easter brings, the most longed for feast of the year; here are the beginnings of creatures newly formed: children born from the life-giving font of holy Church, born anew with the simplicity of little ones, and crying out with the evidence of a clean conscience. Chaste fathers and inviolate mothers accompany this new family, countless in number, born to new life through faith. As they emerge from the grace-giving womb of the font, a blaze of candles burns brightly beneath the tree of faith. The Easter festival brings the grace of holiness from heaven to men. Through the repeated celebration of the sacred mysteries they receive the spiritual nourishment of the sacraments. Fostered at the very heart of holy Church, the fellowship of one community worships the one God, adoring the triple name of his essential holiness, and together with the prophet sings the psalm which belongs to this yearly festival: This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad. And what is this day? It is the Lord Jesus Christ himself, the author of light, who brings the sunrise and the beginning of life, saying of himself: I am the light of day; whoever walks in daylight does not stumble. That is to say, whoever follows Christ in all things will come by this path to the throne of eternal light.
Such was the prayer Christ made to the Father while he was still on earth: Father, I desire that where I am they also may be, those who have come to believe in me; and that as you are in me and I in you, so they may abide in us.
Keep spreading joy!
Fr. Friedel