Dear Parishioners:
"This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad!” Today we rejoice in the Resurrection of Christ. However, our Easter joy is muted as we witness war and the continued suffering in Ukraine.
"Contemplation of a war that is so cruel in all its aspects and the thought of the suffering children of the Church inspires in the heart of the Father and forms upon Our lips words of comfort and encouragement. And yet, on this day, We greet you with joyful Alleluia, for it is the day of Christ's triumph over His crucifiers, open and secret, ancient and modern. We convey that greeting to you with the voice and confidence with which, even in the days of the persecution, the early Christians exultantly sang that Alleluia."
Venerable Pope Pius XII spoke these words to the world on Easter 1941. It would be the last Easter before the United States officially entered the Second World War. As on that Easter Sunday over eighty years ago, we again pray for Peace and those suffering the evils of war. With fear and trepidation like our parents and grandparents on Easter 1941, we watch the violent aggression and invasion of sovereign nations and the death and destruction of war.
As they did eighty years ago, world leaders clamor for Peace and justice today. Yet we watch with horror the continued violence and evil in Ukraine. It can turn our Easter hope into despair and our Easter joy into sorrow.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian, and anti-Nazi dissident. He was known for his staunch resistance to the Nazi regime. He was a vocal opponent of Hitler's euthanasia program and genocidal persecution of the Jews. Arrested in April 1943 by the Gestapo, he was imprisoned. He was hanged to death on April 9, 1945. During his imprisonment, he wrote: "Good Friday and Easter free us to think about other things far beyond our own personal fate, about the ultimate meaning of all life, suffering, and events; and we lay hold of a great hope."
Easter is just as it was on the First Easter and Easter 1941, the Feast of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. God's definitive answer to death. Nothing is stronger nor more powerful than He. Through the Resurrection, God has conquered both sin and death.
Nevertheless, there is no lack of despair or hopelessness in our world in these anxious times. We cannot deny what we see: violence, poverty, conflict, hatred, injustice, suffering, and the very face of evil. Moreover, there appears to be no end to such problems, and often they defy easy solutions.
However, we know from the Gospel that following the Passion and death of Jesus Christ, the Apostles who had abandoned the Lord upon his arrest then went into hiding after his death. They, too, were anxious and afraid.
In our time, in response to all these difficulties and uncertainties, some people have turned in toward themselves in fear and loathing. Others pretend that all is well and continue a selfish way of life. Still, others have become angry, bitter, and cynical, assuming a cold indifference, caring only for themselves.
On the Feast of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, as Catholic Christians, we must firmly believe and truly understand that the only true and authentic answer to life's most profound and difficult questions always begins with the Risen Jesus Christ
The Risen Christ and only the Risen Christ makes us holy and wise. It is He who grants us Peace. It is He who gives Himself to us in the Holy Eucharist. He forgives us our sins in the Sacrament of Confession and speaks to us through the Sacred Scriptures and His Church. Today the Risen Christ, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, says to us what He said to the Apostles on that First Easter: "Peace be to you. It is I. Do not be afraid!"
Today as we renew our promises of baptism at Easter Mass, may we who profess faith in his Resurrection strive to bring Jesus' hope and Peace to all, particularly the poor, the sick, the suffering, and those who live in fear and anxiety. Let us live in the Light of Christ and give witness to Easter joy, faith, hope, and love. Happy Easter!
Alleluia! Christ is Risen! He has Risen Indeed! Alleluia! A blessed Easter to you and your loved ones.