Easter
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Happy Easter! I pray that this Easter Sunday, the day of Christ’s victory over death, brings you profound and tangible joy as we share in Christ’s victory in our own lives.
How hopeless life would be if we stood powerless before death and the bondage of sin! There would be nothing worth living for if life were nothing but a conveyor belt moving us toward death without anything to hope for beyond the grave. How terrible would life be if all our attempts to love ended only in the frustration of repeated sin and selfishness?
St. Paul describes this miserable cycle and our way out through Christ when he writes to the Romans, saying:
“Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being, I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:21-25)
Easter Sunday is all about God’s power to set us free from the stuff that never makes us happy but only enslaves us to frustration and misery. St. Paul describes this miserable life when he writes to the Galatians, saying:
“It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on.” (Galatians 5:19-21 paraphrased in The Message translation)
Brothers and Sisters: this Easter Sunday, do not be afraid to entrust your life to Christ! Today, give him your struggles with sin, your failed attempts to love and be loved, your desperate efforts to control and manage your life apart from him, and your addictions to paltry and unsatisfying things. Easter Sunday is all about God’s power to set us free from the stuff that never makes us happy but only enslaves us to frustration and misery.
Lord Jesus, help us welcome your new life into our hearts this Easter! We surrender all our sins and struggles to the power of your love. We believe that you can make us new and raise us from the dead. Take our old life of sin and give us a new life in the Spirit, the same Spirit who raised you from the dead. Bring us authentic and lasting joy and fill us with hope that we may look forward to sharing in your Resurrection from the dead. Amen!
God bless you all!
Fr. Erik Arnold
Easter Mass Schedule:
Saturday, April 18
8p.m. Easter Vigil Mass*
Sunday, April 17
6:30a.m. Easter Mass
8:30a.m. Easter Mass*
10:30a.m. Easter Mass
10:45a.m. Easter Mass in the Parish Activities Center
12:30p.m. Easter Mass
*Livestream