From the Pastor's Desk- April 05

Dear parishioners,

Happy Easter to you, your families and friends! Now is the time to reap the rewards of Lent and Holy Week. Let us ask for the grace to experience the true joy of Christ' s resurrection. Regardless of whether we have been intentional about our Lenten resolutions and penances, now is not the time to look to ourselves, but rather an invitation to fix our eyes on the risen Lord. He wants to breathe new life into our hearts, giving us a renewed sense of faith, hope and charity, and bringing us deeper serenity amid our trials.

What makes Easter joy special? How is it different? First: Easter joy is a grace that we can only ask God to give us. It is beyond our control because it does not belong to this world alone. It arises in the context of a true friendship with God. Our joy is primarily rooted in Christ' s triumph over sin and death. In other words, we rejoice because he rose from the dead after his brutal crucifixion. My friend is alive! 'I know that my Redeemer lives!' But our hope goes further: we rejoice because His victory is our victory. If we die with him, we will rise with him. Nothing can separate us from Him again. Reading the account of the resurrection of Lazarus in chapter 11 of Saint John ' s Gospel may help us to understand this. Jesus said that he was going to Jerusalem to raise his friend Lazarus from the dead.

St. Ignatius of Loyola wrote some great points for all meditations concerning the resurrection of Our Lord:

• When beginning a prayer, ask “for the grace to be glad and to rejoice intensely because of the great glory and joy of Christ our Lord” .
• “Consider how the divinity, which seemed hidden during the Passion, now appears and manifests itself so miraculously in this holy Resurrection, through its true and most holy effects” .
• “Consider the office of consoler which Christ our Lord carries out and compare it with the way friends console one another."

 This icon was painted by Fr. Pevkis, a Greek Orthodox priest whom I met last year during our pilgrimage to Greece in the footsteps of Saint Paul. It depicts Christ pulling Adam, Eve, and the entire human race from the bosom of Abraham. Let us allow Christ to pull us out of the darkness of sadness, sin, and error! May the Lord bless your family with a deep sense of Christian Easter joy!

Fr. Álvaro.