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A Message from Fr. Franco -
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Ressurection
My dear parishioners,
On a day like today I went down memory lane and I remembered Easter’s past. I have simple memories of Easter:
As a little boy waking up early to dress up well for Church.
As an altar server, serving the Easter Vigil and then getting up early to do the same at the first mass of Sunday morning.
As a priest seeing the joy of parishioners with Lent behind them, dressing up with themselves and their children on a sunny Easter morning.
Remembering 2013, getting up to celebrate Easter Sunday morning only to find myself six hours later on a plane to Florida to be with my mother as my dad went home to God.
What are your Easter memories?
Alleluia!
I believe that we need the Easter message more fully today, than ever before.
What I found most helpful in all of this was reflecting on Michael Downey’s book “The Depth of God’s Reach, Christ’s descent into Hell”. He spoke about a world living in fear and says that for many, the word “alleluia” rings hollow. That is, he believes, because we have taken Easter Sunday in isolation from the days which went before- Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.
We know the experience of betrayal of Thursday and the Good Friday moments of pain, loss, anguish, loneliness. Then comes Saturday. Saturday is the day of pondering, pausing, and waiting. Michael says that in becoming a Holy Saturday people, the church might give some small witness that in Christ’s tomb it is possible to have a future. And if we experience the God of Good Friday and Holy Saturday, we know that our God is a God who is deeply involved in our pain, deeply involved with us in our suffering. And so that kind of God who suffers is a God we can relate to, especially as we celebrate Easter Sunday.
He’s in hospitals, dressed as nurses, caregivers, doctors, and chaplains; He is risen. In truck drivers supplying needed provisions, He is risen. In policemen caring for others by policing and enforcing discipline, He is risen. In the churches as priests celebrate daily mass and offer consolation, He is risen.
In supermarkets where workers are replenishing their shelves or cleaners moving our garbage, He is risen.
In those reaching out to the homeless, the poor the lonely, the elderly, and the young, He is risen.
And so, my dear brothers and sisters, we can say today, “Yes, He is risen, alleluia!” Let us Celebrate!
Happy Easter everyone!
God bless you.
Pray for me.
In Mary Help of Christians,
Fr. Franco
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