Easter 2024

Dear Parishioners,

“If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain…we are the most pitiable people of all.” These words of St. Paul, from his first letter to the Corinthians, chapter 15, verses 18 and 19 are the basis for our reflection on the meaning of the Easter event. No one saw Christ rising from the dead. All the accounts of Christ’s resurrection recorded in the four gospels focus on an empty tomb, “who will roll back the stone for us,” is the main concern of the woman, a man in white sitting on a stone, lightning flashing from heaven, an angel rolling back the stone, the guards were like dead men, people afraid, the apostles running to the tomb, and the statement, why do you seek the living one among the dead, he is not here he has been raised.

The resurrection of Jesus is proclaimed in the way his followers lived their lives. No one gives up their lives for a concept or an idea. The early church proclaimed the death and resurrection of Jesus in their witness of love, and service, and for their willingness to die freely and joyfully for their faith.

People experience the risen Christ through his followers, whose lives would make no sense if Christ were not alive. We recognize him in the breaking of the bread, as did the disciples on the road to Emmaus, and as we do when we gather to celebrate Holy Mass. In the Eucharist Christ is present, as he promised to be with us until the end of time.

We face many challenges in our world today that threaten our beliefs, from outright persecution, to ridicule and religious intolerance. We take courage in the fact that if we have not been able to destroy the church through our own sinfulness and human frailty, then neither will any other political power or force. The words of Jesus spoken to Peter, “You are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of hell and the jaws of death shall not prevail against it,” remind us of this fact.

Like the woman who go to the tomb very early in the morning, on the first day of the week, we too wonder who will roll the rock away for us. The rock of fear, suffering, scandal, death, doubt, our sinful pride, and all that prevents us from living as a true disciple of Jesus.

It is Christ who has the power to roll back the stone and who will call us to come forth from our tombs into the light of day, and in death itself to eternal life. Let this be our hope and cause for joy this Easter, and throughout the year. May Christ rising from the dead dispel the darkness that surrounds us.

You will have a special remembrance in all my prayers and Masses on Easter and throughout the Easter Season.

Father Gagne