The linen wrappings were lying there…

03-31-2024Pastor's LetterVery Rev. Richard C. Wilson, VF, Pastor

Dear Friends in Christ,

“This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” This is the refrain from Psalm 118 that we shall be singing throughout the Easter season. It aptly summarizes the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Father has resurrected Jesus Christ, His beloved Son, in whom He delights. Our Lord has loved us to the point of giving his life for all of us.

May all of us live this Easter season with an abundance of joy. Christ has risen: so, let us celebrate His resurrection with joy and love. Death, sin, and sadness have today been defeated by Jesus Christ... and He has opened the doors to a new life, the real life, the life we owe to the grace of the Holy Spirit. No one should be sad. In all of life’s challenges, Christ is our peace and our path forever and ever.

The great sign the Gospel gives us today is that Jesus' tomb is empty. We must look no more among the dead for He who is alive has risen. And his disciples also realize his tomb is empty. They will see him risen later on, experiencing him alive in a wonderful meeting in faith. An empty tomb and apparitions will be the great signs for the believer's faith. The Gospel says: “Then the other disciple also went in, the one who had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed” (Jn 20:8). Through his faith he realizes that the emptiness, the burial cloths, and the cloth that had covered his head rolled up in a separate place, were all signs that God had been there. They were signs of the resurrection. Love can see signs where others cannot, and small signs are enough. “The other disciple whom Jesus loved” (Jn 20:2) was led by the love he had received from Christ.

The disciples “saw and believed” and this must also be our aim. May we renew our paschal faith; that Christ be our Lord in everything we do. Let his life revitalize ours and renew the grace of the baptism we have received; that we might grow as his disciple. May we be guided by love and announce to all our happiness to believe in Christ and be hopeful witnesses of his Resurrection!

All the best…in Christ,

Father Wilson