No one can stop the Resurrection of Jesus. No one. The power and grace of the dying and rising of Jesus Christ is explosive!
Christians gather at the tomb of Jesus in Jerusalem every year to share the Easter greeting and the light of the new Easter fire. The holy frenzy that accompanies the announcement or Exultet is mirrored in the churches and cathedrals around the world. The holy shroud of Turin, the burial cloth of Jesus, was seared with a blast of energy that left an imprint which cannot be explained but reveals the unharnessed power of the risen Lord and His beautiful image.
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| Bishop Paul Sirba Fiat Voluntas Tua |
Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, has risen from the tomb! No one could or can stop Jesus’ victory over sin, suffering, and death. Alleluia! His love for us is eternal. In this month of April we begin the great 50 days of the Easter Season. The Lord’s Resurrection should fill our hearts and lives with His grace and mercy.
As our faith teaches, “We firmly believe, and hence we hope that, just as Christ is truly risen from the dead and lives for ever, so after death the righteous will live for ever with the risen Christ and he will raise them up on the last day. Our resurrection, like his own, will be the work of the Most Holy Trinity” (CCC 989).
Brothers and sisters, let us live in the light of the Resurrection of Jesus! Like the first disciples, who doubted the announcement of the Good News initially, we can get stuck in the doubt. We are tempted to believe the doubt. We are impatient that the Lord doesn’t answer our prayers or permits us to share in His creative suffering. There is pressure, subtle pride, which remains in us, that the Lord during this Easter Season wants to heal. Receive the healing power of the risen Lord.
In concert with Holy Mother Church, I encourage the reading of the Acts of the Apostles during the great 50 days. The second volume of St. Luke’s two-volume work describes how salvation history promised in the Old Testament is accomplished by Jesus in the New. St. Luke’s account of the coming of the Holy Spirit and the foundation of the Christian community and the commissioning of its first preachers is being lived anew in the Diocese of Duluth through you and me.
Our Easter joy should reflect the love of Jesus. It should teach us to receive the freedom of God’s merciful love for us personally. It should motivate us to be more merciful to others.
“Therefore, O Lord, we pray you that this candle, hallowed to the honor of your name, may preserve undimmed, to overcome the darkness of this night. Receive it as a pleasing fragrance, and let it mingle with the lights of heaven. May this flame be found still burning by the Morning Star: the one Morning Star who never sets, Christ your Son, who, coming back from death’s domain, has shed his peaceful light on humanity, and lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen” (Exultet).
Bishop Paul Sirba is the ninth bishop of Duluth.
