Pastor's Letter - April 19, 2020

Given our circumstances this Holy Week, I was thoroughly pleased with what we were able to offer the parish through video capabilities. We seized the opportunity to do what we could to share the prayer of the Church with everyone through our YouTube channel. Also, I really loved the evenings of prayer during our “virtual mission” that allowed us to unite around our Eucharistic Lord and commune with Him in a powerful way. I received many emails, letters, or other messages of gratitude for the chance to pray at “our parish.” That made all the hard work truly worth it.

I am grateful to those who have contributed to the parish funds to allow us to purchase the necessary equipment, and to Daniel Padilla and others who helped to execute the events with a lot of work behind the scenes, quite literally! 

For this 8th day of Easter we remember Divine Mercy Sunday, revealed to us in the glorious wounds of Jesus that show us the depth of God’s mercy. In Christ, the Lord breaks into our fears with His peace. Locked in the upper room, the disciples then see Jesus and Thomas (and all of us with him) see the marks of His wounds and cry out “my Lord and my God."

Despite all the difficulty and setbacks, despite shattered hopes and yes despite the recent falling snow, Easter is come. Winter is fading and spring is coming. Life has won. God has conquered death. Joy, eternal joy, is within our grasp. Alleluia! 

I heard an amazing homily from another priest online this year for Easter Sunday. It really moved me with its powerful message. I would like to share with you some of his words. May the Risen Jesus continue to meet us, locked up in our upper rooms, and bring us His peace. 

“They did not yet understand…” There has never been a time like this when we have come face to face with the true depth of these words. Like the disciples, we feel that we must ask the Lord what rising from the dead means. It is so striking yet consoling that even at the sight of the empty tomb, the evangelist    confesses: they did not yet understand. The   disciples had lost everything. Their life was a bitter mixture of pain, fear, regret, confusion, and guilt. Nor was there any future for them, having built their hopes in Jesus, brutally killed and completely sealed off in the darkness, sealed off with a large and heavy stone. 

Have we not also felt in our lives these days this stone? This heavy stone? 

As the number of people painfully suffering the infection of the virus continues to rise, as thousand die without the consoling presence of families and friends or the accompaniment of the last rites. As individuals and families mourn their loved ones. As pastors lament the absence of their beloved parishioners. As Christians whose lives have been built around the liturgy are no longer able to celebrate together in the church they have always called their own and with the community of their brothers and sisters. As millions lose their jobs and many more live in hunger and pain and fear and confusion. Can we quantify the anxiety and fear, the uncertainty and  isolation we have experienced in these days? Do we not feel the weight of this stone pressing against our hearts? 

The stone is a powerful symbol in the Easter message. It is the termination of hope and the end to communion. It assured that no light enters the tomb and that no element left the tomb. It made sure that the grave remained dark. It is thus the obstacle against God’s promise. It is a sign of humanity’s grand plan to silence God and to seal God off lest God intrudes in our interests. Since it had the seal of Rome with the guards watching over it, the stone is also the symbol of the most powerful forces of the world.  

Yet although the stone shuts the tomb, it could not close the hearts of the followers of Jesus. Even in their pain and loss, even in their guilt and fear, the disciples did not stop loving Jesus. They would not let the stone shut off their trust and their love. This resilience of love which we see in Mary and the other  disciples we have also seen in these days. In our health care workers; in Pope Francis  praying alone in St. Peter’s square for the world; in priests who sacrifice themselves to offer the last rites; families who are together in communion, prayer, sharing meals and life together; in youth who go shopping for the elderly to keep them safe; so many examples of this resilience of love. In all these ways, we are showing the resilience of the disciples whose love of Jesus is not closed by the tomb. 

The Lord invites us to experience the miracle of Easter by refusing to be held back by the stone, but rather to draw to the tomb, and to witness that the stone is unrolled. What is the stone in my life that needs to be unrolled? It is important to recognize the stones, to name them, and to submit them to the Lord and ask Him to unroll them. 

…We must ask ourselves: what are the signs of Easter in my life today? What are the signs of the Risen Lord and his presence in my life today? Have I recognized them? Have I     responded to them? Let us ask the Lord for the eyes to see these signs of His presence, and ask for the courage to respond to them. Let us ask Him to remove the stones in our hearts.