Easter 2023 - Fr. Gagne's Message

Dear Parishioners,

“Why do you seek the living one among the dead?” (Luke 24:5). This question asked by the two men in dazzling garments to the woman who came to the tomb on the first day of the week is the important question for us this Easter. The question suggests that we need to look in the right places for what we seek. As the creed states, “I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.”

What we often desire and search for requires us to look beyond the physical and material realities that are in front of us. In a world that says there is no God, and there is no sin, and by extension, there is no right or wrong, our search becomes futile. Like the woman who go to the tomb we too make our way to the place of death in search of meaning.

When I was in elementary school the teachers told my parents that I spent too much time daydreaming and not enough time paying attention. At this point in my life, I see daydreaming as a gift rather than a problem. The ability to daydream prepared me well for the priesthood. To be a priest means to be able to see things not as they are but as God sees them and through prayer to help others dream as well.

Easter calls us to dream about a world of amazing and infinite possibilities. St. Paul writes, “The message of the cross in foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those who are being saved it is the power of God.” (1 Cor.1:18)

It is this power of God that allowed the disciples on the road to Emmaus to have their eyes opened when they recognized Jesus in the breaking of the bread. We too will have our eyes opened when we recognize him in the breaking of the bread. Like the disciples on the road to Emmaus our hearts will burn within us as we share with others what we ourselves have seen and experienced.

May we be instruments of peace and in a world where people live in fear, because of war, persecution, loneliness, addictions, homelessness, racism, anti-Semitism, and those who are suffering in any way.

A Blessed Easter day and season to you and your families. You will be remembered in all my prayers and Masses during this season of new life and endless hope and infinite possibilities.

Father Gagne