Jesus Christ is Risen

Wednesday  |  April 12, 2017  |  14:49 PM

We rejoice to proclaim that

      Jesus Christ is Risen, Alleluia.

As churches around the world are full and alive with the joy of Easter, we are delighted that you took the time and faced the crowds to get to the Holy Mass today.

It is wonderful to have visitors, friends and family members together to celebrate the most powerful event in salvation history when Christ, having died on Good Friday, restored the hope of his followers through his resurrection on Sunday morning.

Further, he went on to spend the next 40 days to be with his disciples before he ascended into heaven. The apostles had no doubt that he was truly risen. They had seen his lifeless body taken down from the cross and laid in the tomb. They knew the heavy stone was rolled across the entrance of the tomb and then they experienced him in the Upper Room in Jerusalem when he appeared in their midst despite the fact that the doors had been locked out of fear that the disciples would suffer a similar fate of cruel death for being followers of Jesus.

My dear brothers and sisters, in this world, we who believe must continue to tell the Good News that God is love. Those who abide in love, abide in God and God in them.

Live the Joy of the Gospel every day. Live it with all your heart and mind and soul and strength. Live it in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. Live it for the sake of your families and communities. Live it by taking care of the precious gifts of human life and of all of God’s creation. Live it in season and out of season. Christ is Life. Christ is Love. Christ is Mercy. Christ is hope for those who have lost hope. Christ is joy for those who have too little joy. Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life. He is the gate to eternal life and the Good Shepherd who leads us to the home of Our Father, Mother, all the angels and saints.

—  Fr Hans Ruygt