April 17, 2019 Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ: Every year at the Easter Vigil, in the glow of the newly blessed fire, the priest inscribes the four numbers of the current year on the new Paschal Candle and says: “All time belongs to Him and all the ages to him be glory and power through every age and forever. Amen.” On that first Easter Day a new life began that will never grow old: the life of the Risen Christ. Through our baptismal adoption as children of God, we enter Jesus’ eternal freshness where all time belongs to Him, our Lord and Brother. By their very nature, everything and everybody in the world grows old. Time is fleeting. We are always in such a hurry, so aware that the clock is always ticking. We seem to be always in a race against time. Too often, we belong to our calendars. Even so, how we spend our time on this earth reflects what we believe to be important. I hope that your Lenten journey has been an experience where you’ve given more of your time to God. As an Easter People, our hope lies in our belief that as we embrace the cross in our own lives, we too will rise with Christ on the last day. It’s no coincidence that the numerals of the current year are inscribed around the cross on the Paschal Candle. This placement is indicative of the fact that there is no distancing of our Christian lives from the cross. I pray that as we begin this Easter Season of hope and joy, you find the time to grow ever closer to the Risen Lord Jesus through prayer and the celebration of the Church’s Seven Sacraments: Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Eucharist, Penance, Marriage, Holy Orders, and the Anointing of the Sick. Encourage your family members to become more active in the faith life of your parish, where they are invited to encounter the Risen Lord in the sharing of the Word and the Breaking of the Bread. This will prove to be time well spent, both in this life and in the next. Christ-led, Christ-fed, and Hope-filled, we know that our lives are saturated with blessings from our God. Let us take the time to thank God from Whom all these blessings flow on this day, the first of days! Let raise our voices in a joyful song of praise that we belong to Him…yesterday, today, and forever. Easter Blessings to you and your loved ones! Faithfully yours in Christ, |
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