To watch Fr. Joe’s homily from Easter Morning: CLICK HERE! 

For Jesus, ABBA – Father, God our Father – was his constant source of strength and purpose that he needed in order to do what he did and to say what he said.

And his trust in ABBA was most evident when Jesus in the garden “pleaded” with his ABBA to “take away this cup from him?”    This road to suffering and death on a cross.

For Jesus knew that death on a cross was not the end.  For the cross is but a symbol reminding us that, God never abandons his people, that death leads to life; Eternal Life.

In what seems almost unbelievable, amid the destruction and ashes of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France, images of the golden altar cross were seen glowing, with the cross intact.

Just maybe a symbol, a reminder, to look at and beyond the cross for it ALL leads to life, to resurrection, to eternal life…

And that is what we celebrate this Easter: life, resurrection, eternal life…

Not the Easter Bunny, marshmallow peeps, or helicopter egg drops.  (As enjoyable as these may be…)

But the power of God who offers us, again and again and again, as he did his son, the grace, the power, “to do what God asks us to do,” as his sons and daughters.  “To say what God asks us to say,” as his sons and daughters.

In the shadows of a smoldering Cathedral in Paris this week, people gathered to cry, to sing songs, to pray and to resolve to raise up this church, this Cathedral to its original splendor.

As persons, families, a church, there often are times when we need to be raised up”  and may be more times than we would like to admit.

But resurrection, new life is not a dream, it is for real!  (Have your heard?)

We pray this Easter that as person, family and Parish, we will grow in an ever deepening relationship with God, our ABBA, our Father, that is supported in prayer and the Sacraments, especially the Eucharist.

Resurrection is not just something that happened once 2,000 years ago, rather Resurrection – Easter, if you will is happening all around us.  Witness the season of spring, witness the miracle Mets of 50 years ago; witness the rise to the top by Tiger Woods at August, last weekend; witness the many people who come together, time and time again, to assist individuals or peoples around the world.

This Easter as we renew our Baptismal promises to grow in love of God and others and in being Faithful Disciples, may our words be seen in all that is NEW, all that is life giving, all that gives hope, all that gives joy” to our brothers and sisters – at home, at work, at school, in the community and around the world.

If Easter says anything, maybe it is never underestimate the power of the God…  Not just the power of God to raise us up to Eternal Life, but the power of God to raise us up as His sons and daughters in ways that bring about a new heaven and a new Earth in our time of lived faith, hope and love…

To watch Father Joe’s homily for the Easter morning Mass: CLICK HERE!

This past Good Friday, I went to a funeral service for a local golf Pro who died from pancreatic cancer.  And my thoughts turned to the funerals I’ve officiated over in recent months…

Funerals that bring to mind their Good Friday… that in faith we believe leads to Easter, for each of us and all of us… to resurrection and eternal life.

For today’s Feast of Easter certainly is the exclamation point to the birth, the life, the words, and the death of Jesus.

As St. Paul reminded the Romans, “Just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life.”

And as we know, it is through our Baptisms, that we share in the life, death and most importantly the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

It is interesting that the Gospel of Mark gives little mention of the resurrection of Jesus by only mentioning to the three women who came to the tomb, “He has been raised.”  Rather Mark seems to want to emphasize that point that Jesus has gone ahead of his Disciples.  It almost seems that the Jesus of Mark’s Gospel is in a hurry to have his disciples continue his ministry of healing, feeding, and giving hope to all, especially the oppressed.

Jesus continues to go before us, HIS people and disciples of 2018.  And like the women of the Gospel who went to the tomb to find Jesus, we too realize that Jesus is not to be found in the Tomb, but Jesus is to be found in the world.

And that may well be the Good News for us this Easter!

If we want to find the Risen Lord, we have to GO OUT, out into the world, out into life.  For it is in living the Gospel that we find Jesus.  For it is in living the Gospel that we realize Jesus is alive.

This Easter and beyond, may we find Jesus in one another and others, may others find Jesus as we live our faith, increasingly with the passing of each day as person, family and parish.

The hope of Easter is for the renewed world.  May we bring to life the hopes of those we know and the many we do not know.

May we go out into our world and bring through our lives peace and justice; compassion and goodness; mercy, faith and truth and so much more.  All that which Jesus promised and Easter affirms.

May we and others find Jesus not in the Tomb, but in the world in which we live every day.

What is Easter?  If we think of Easter only as remembering Jesus rising from the dead… Easter is just another day.  A holiday for Easter bunnies, Easter eggs, jelly beans, chocolate and dinner.

But, just as we have “rediscovered” Jesus a bit more this Lent; Easter and the Easter Season ahead reminds us that Easter and Easter Faith is an ongoing process.  Just like it took the disciples of Jesus’ day time to grasp that reality of Jesus’ resurrection, both in what it meant for Jesus and what it implied for them.  Ultimately, disciples of Jesus come to realize that they must continually bring Christ’s life to bear on everything they are and everything they do.

We are called by Jesus to not only celebrate his resurrection, but to celebrate the everyday resurrections.

Resurrections that happen when we recognize ourselves as forgiven sinners, who freely offer forgiveness and who truly believe that the evil found in our world will never have the last word.

Resurrections that happen when we lend a helping hand, instead of waiting for someone else to get involved.

Resurrections that happen when we grow in appreciation of the gifts and talents of others, that bless our lives and the lives of others.

Resurrections that happen when the person in need is given the time of day by us, as person, family and parish.

Resurrections that happen when we move from an attitude of “I and Me” to an attitude of “We and Us.”

Resurrections that happen in so many ways in our lives when we realize that we are not God and allow God’s grace and power to direct our everyday lives entirely.

May this Easter and the Easter Season to follow open our eyes and minds and hearts to experiences that lead us to know the Living Christ among us today and everyday.

May the Easter Season allow us to see the holy moments of every day, and to know that we too are called as disciples of Jesus to create holy moments every day that witness to life and eternal life.

Put another way, “we are challenged to live our Baptism by making holy the places where we live and work and have our being.  We the People of God, are to live “the Jesus” we know through goodness and kindness. (Vat. II)

May we continue to know the Risen Lord and through us, may others come to know the Risen Lord this day and every day!