Pastor's Letter - April 12, 2020

The word unprecedented has lately become unpleasant to me. It now means to me: no going to see my family, no schools, no sports leagues (the high school is what matters to me), no time out with others. And worst of all, then, it means almost no one of the things that make up my priestly ministry - no people in church for Masses and other parish events. I am grateful to hear Confessions! I have missed you all dearly. 

Unprecedented nowadays means unfortunately so much worse for so many: thousands of lives lost in our world with many threatened by an invisible disease that can spread almost ahead of itself. Suffering inconveniences galore for the sake of our brothers and sisters who are in danger is a worthy cause and an act of true charity. The same charity we remember in these holiest of days, and now in this holiest season of all: the season of Easter.

The timing of world events is not by accident: the Lord's Resurrection now shines in a brighter light, as we see the sun rise upon our own spiritual and social darkness. The true source of our hope comes to us this day, ready or not, with pomp and circumstance or in quiet.

You may have received something that outlines how our current experience isn't too different from the Apostles' experience on Easter day, and perhaps for the next centuries when the Christians were persecuted. I offer it for your meditation and inspiration. It really is spot on.

The very first Easter (unknown author)
"I was thinking about how all of us were so sad that we will miss our first Easter at church when I read this from a friend this morning. God is good, all the time!

The very first Easter was not in a crowded worship space with singing and praising. On the very first Easter the disciples were locked in their house. It was dangerous for them to come out. They were afraid. They wanted to believe the good news they heard from the women, that Jesus had risen. But it seemed too good to be true. They were living in a time of such despair and such fear. If they left their homes their lives and the lives of their loved ones might be at risk. Could a miracle really have happened? Could life really have won out over death? Could this time of terror and fear really be coming to an end? Alone in their homes they dared to believe that hope was possible, that the long night was over and morning had broken, that God’s love was the most powerful of all, even though it didn’t seem quite real yet. Eventually, they were able to leave their homes, when the fear and danger had subsided. They went around celebrating and spreading the good news that Jesus was risen and love was the most powerful force on the earth.

This year, we might get to experience a taste of what that first Easter was like, still in our homes daring to believe that hope is on the horizon. Then, after a while, when it is safe for all people, when it is the most loving choice, we will come out, gathering together, singing and shouting the good news that God brings life even out of death, that love always has the final say! This year we might get the closest taste we have had yet to what that first Easter was like."

This text gives us a great frame of mind for Easter. Although it may hurt to have so much stripped away from our joyous celebration of the coming of Christ, we remember that the first disciples had no such decoration and fanfare to their Easter. They only had the horror of dashed hopes, of plans gone awry, and of rejection, public humiliation, and death. They weren't “feeling” joyful at all. It was in the midst of that sorrow that the light of Christ shone. We must also allow that light to shine into our homes.

The hard storms of this past week only helped to intensify the beauty of the sunshine, the warmth that is steadily increasing, and the life that is growing more and more are all we have now. Perhaps our windows opening and letting in the spring life are the best images we have of the gift of our faith. It is the way we bring new life into our darkened and suffocating souls.

Easter indeed comes, brothers and sisters, very differently than we expected it. And yet this allows us the opportunity to embrace it in a new and fuller way than ever before. Discover something new about Easter this year. Take it to heart. Share it with others when the time is right. Bring His light into the world through your joyful witness.


I finish with a short beautiful poem about Easter:

Easter - George Herbert

Rise heart; thy Lord is risen. Sing his praise
Without delays,
Who takes thee by the hand, that thou likewise
With him mayst rise:
That, as his death calcined thee to dust,
His life may make thee gold, and much more just.

Awake, my lute, and struggle for thy part
With all thy art.
The cross taught all wood to resound his name,
Who bore the same.
His stretched sinews taught all strings, what key
Is best to celebrate this most high day.

Consort both heart and lute, and twist a song
Pleasant and long:
Or since all music is but three parts vied
And multiplied;
O let thy blessed Spirit bear a part,
And make up our defects with his sweet art.

I got me flowers to straw thy way:
I got me boughs off many a tree:
But thou wast up by break of day,
And brought’st thy sweets along with thee.

The Sun arising in the East,
Though he give light, and th’East perfume;
If they should offer to contest
With thy arising, they presume.

Can there be any day but this,
Though many suns to shine endeavour?
We count three hundred, but we miss:
There is but one, and that one ever.