Easter Blessings from Archbishop Aymond

A blessed Easter to you, my sisters and brothers! Jesus rose from the darkness of the tomb to the Father and his kingdom. That is what we celebrate at Easter and ask our God to give us the faith to more deeply believe in this great mystery of the Resurrection.
 
In reading the scriptures, we see that the women went to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus, but they found that the entrance to the tomb was open. Going into the tomb, they realized that Jesus was not there and came to believe that he had been raised from the dead. My sisters and brothers, this is the mystery that we embrace at Easter, not just as a fact, but believe it in our hearts and strive to live with the risen Christ. Yes, Jesus rose from the darkness of the tomb to the new life of the Father's kingdom. And he has done this for us, to bring light into our darkness.
 
Not only do we give praise to the risen Christ for his resurrection, we are called to ask an important question, “Where in my life do I need the light of the risen Christ to shine forth?” We know that our world needs this light where there are war and rumors of war, not only in Ukraine and in the Middle East, but many other parts of our world where there are tension and conflict, even the brink of war. We pray that the risen Christ will give light and peace to the world leaders, that they can be instruments of peace.
 
We also ask the risen Christ to bring light where there may be a disagreement, where there may be tensions in our families or among our friends and coworkers. Likewise, we need light in our own lives where there is a struggle for faith in the risen Christ or personal tensions that we deal with that sometimes bring us doubts. Easter is a time of belief and an opportunity to allow the risen Christ to come into our doubts and for us to strive to live with greater faith.
 
In this feast of Easter, you and I are called to bring the risen Christ to others by our actions, by our attitudes, and by our words. It is not the women at the tomb or the apostles who proclaim the risen Christ today, it is you and me in our daily lives that we can call others to know him by the way in which we live and give witness.
 
Please know that the risen Christ is with you and awaits us asking for his help and to bring light specifically into the darkness of our hearts.