My Thoughts on 12/04/2020
Fr Sylvester, Canon John and myself celebrated alone last night the first Mass of Easter. We missed you terribly.
We are deeply sad that Alistair, Jamie, will have to wait to be baptised, that Laura, Fred, and Bryce are unable to be received into full communion with Church and that Pricilla and Raf are unable to join with them in receiving the fullness of the Holy Spirit in Confirmation and receiving Jesus in Holy Communion.
Despite this disappointment, the truth of the resurrection of Jesus is clearly proclaimed in the Liturgy. I was struck by the reading from St Paul’s letter to the Romans 6
“When we were baptised in Christ Jesus we were baptised in his death”
in other words, when we were baptised we went into the tomb with him and joined him in death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the Father’s glory, we too might live a new life. Today we celebrate this new life given to us freely.
I found the homily Pope Francis gave last night very moving.
“The grave is the place where no one who enters ever leaves. But Jesus emerged for us; he rose for us, to bring life where there was death, to begin a new story in the very place where a stone had been placed.
He, who rolled away the stone that sealed the entrance of the tomb, can also remove the stones in our hearts. So, let us not give in to resignation; let us not place a stone before hope.
We can and must hope because God is faithful. He did not abandon us; he visited us and entered into our situations of pain, anguish, and death. His light dispelled the darkness of the tomb: today he wants that light to penetrate even to the darkest corners of our lives.
Dear sister, dear brother, even if in your heart you have buried hope, do not give up: God is greater. Darkness and death do not have the last word. Be strong, for with God nothing is lost!“
Fr Sylvester and myself wish you and your families every blessing this Easter. May we continue to pray for all those who are sick with the Covid-19 virus and those who care for them.
