A Letter from Fr. Paul, Easter Sunday, April 17th

An egg is a vivid symbol for me of what we are celebrating this
Easter Sunday: an egg needs to be shattered for new life to come out.  What does that say to me?
 
First of all, it represents the events of this past week.  As we listened to Luke’s Passion narrative on Palm Sunday and John’s version on Good Friday, it became obvious that Jesus WAS truly shattered: forcefully arrested, scourged, mocked with a robe and crown of thorns, forced to carry a cross, nailed on a cross, and killed.  But what we celebrate today is that out of his being shattered came new life, eternal life for you and me and all of God’s children.
 
Which leads to my second point: it connects my observance of the season of Lent with my celebration of the Resurrection of Christ and the Easter season.  The season of Lent invited me to shatter the things that could be keeping me from new life, be it internal emotions or external things, so that, in celebrating Easter, I would be
experiencing new life.   
 
The point is this: if I have not shattered myself during Lent, if I have not grown in my spiritual life, I am simply remembering past events with my celebration of Easter.  But, if I shattered myself by giving up acts contrary to the commandments, by forgiving others, by sharing the gifts God has given me, etc., then I am celebrating new life within me, in addition to remembering a past event.
 
Hopefully, all of us have grown through our Lenten observance, so that our celebration of Easter is much more than remembering
something that happened a long time ago: it is the celebration of new life and the hope of more to come.  May you have a blessed Easter!  God bless.
 
Instead of a Church sign of the week, I would like to share a prayer, written by two third graders in our Catechesis of the Good Shepherd faith formation program, Sophia from Christ King and Katelyn from St. Pius. It captures what the Good Shepherd and Easter are all about: Lord, there is nothing I need. I am content as I am. You lead my soul. You guide me along the right paths into the light. You bring happiness into my soul.  Amen