We come together as God's people to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, His victory over death and His transforming presence in our lives.
The Easter season consists of the fifty days from Easter Sunday until Pentecost Sunday. The entire season is lived and celebrated with great joy as if it were one great continual Sunday feast. Easter is the center of the liturgical year and of the whole life of the Church. It celebrates our redemption in Christ and the glorification of God that Christ accomplished when, in dying, he destroyed death once and for all. By his Resurrection, life is renewed for us all.
Today, all of us who are Christian must make that commitment to remain faithful to our roots and celebrate the true, beautiful and profound meaning of this wonderful Easter feast. In every corner of our cities and in our country, may our good works and our voices witness to the joy we know in the Risen One. May this be true for all people, above all for the poor, the sick, and those who have fallen away, for they are truly loved by the Father.
Let us radiate the hope and the certainty of the presence of the Risen Christ to all those around us. Let our eyes be filled with light, as it was for the women who saw the empty tomb and the risen Son of God (Mt 28). May we, like them, exclaim in faith: “the Lord is risen, Alleluia!”
“Rejoice! Do not be afraid. He is risen as he said! ” (Mt 28: 6)
In celebrating Lent and then Holy Week, we have the joy of reliving the absolute wonder of Christ's Resurrection.
It has become the fundamental truth of our faith, opening the way for us to understand the mystery of God and his designs for our lives.
By his resurrection, we can understand how much Jesus Christ is one with the living and true God in whose mystery he participates as Son and in whose name he came to witness to his divine mercy. The Resurrection also confirms our hope of one day experiencing eternal life by virtue of the sacraments that unite us to our destiny with Christ.
This is the faith that we are called to renew this Easter. Like Jesus’ disciples, we too must fulfill our mandate to go and proclaim to all that the Lord has risen and goes before us, opening the paths of true life for everyone.
May Easter reinforce our commitment to the daily practice of our faith which finds expression in solidarity with those most in need of our assistance and care.
In his appearances after the Resurrection, to show the disciples that he was truly alive, Jesus broke bread, recreating the action of the Last Supper which he left to us as his memory.
It is in this sharing of the same bread that we claim our identity as Christians. In each Sunday Eucharist, in commemoration of His resurrection, we rediscover this identity leading us in turn to accept God’s love and to share it with everyone by the witness of our lives.
May we live this Easter joy throughout the whole year. May our Sunday Eucharistic celebrations in our communities strengthen our faith in the Risen Christ who invites us to pour out our life in service and in peace, just as He did.
Source: Canção Nova
