For the last several weeks I have given the retreat, From Here to Eternity: How to Live and Die Well. Through those sessions I explored in detail what our faith tells us about what happens when we die and indeed what happens in the dying process. I outlined the needs of the dying and how we can help them to manage those days well. More importantly I gave a pathway for us to help our loved ones who are dying to die full of gratitude and joy. When they are suffering that seems impossible, but it is not. It does require discipline and a clear practice. There are certain things that help and other things that do not. I encourage you to watch these sessions and learn for yourself. We only die once, so we only get one shot at doing it well. We will accompany and watch many other people die. If we can learn a little more about it then we can do it well which will be good for them and for ourselves. Over 1,600 people have viewed the sessions and it is hitting the right note. Watch the session by clicking the link here.
As we head into Easter weekend, I want to first wish you and your family a Happy Easter! Christ is alive! This is the profound message of Easter. God’s love wins over all pain, suffering, illness and even death. In the end, God redeems Jesus beyond all his suffering and pain of the cross. He is alive in you and me!
After Jesus rises from the dead, he tells Mary Magdalene to inform the other disciples. “Tell them to go back to Galilee and I will see them there.” Why go back to Galilee when they were all in Jerusalem, the center of their religion? Galilee is not just a physical location. It is, first and foremost, a place of the heart. Galilee represents for the disciples the beginning of the road of discipleship. They walked and talked with Jesus in Galilee. Galilee was the place where their hearts were burning on fire for Jesus and where his message of love started. So going back to Galilee was “going back to where it all began.” We must do the same.
Often in our own lives, we experience Good Friday moments – our own moments of pain and suffering. Maybe it is not the same intensity as Christ’s suffering. However, in the moment when we are experiencing pain and suffering, it feels as intense! The whole world is experiencing suffering because of the COVID pandemic and now the war in Ukraine. To experience the resurrection then we, too, need to go back to our place of faith. We go back to our place of faith in our heart. Where did we first experience Jesus Christ in our life? Where did we first experience God’s love for us in our own lives? Go back to Galilee!
At Easter, every year as a community, we go back to celebrating the beginning of our faith story. We go back and we look for those moments in our lives that were sparkling moments of God’s love, God’s care, and God’s assurance to us that he is there. Equally important, we help others go back to their Galilee. Often others will help us get there when we are in a bad place. Look at the disciples; they had to encourage each other to go back. Mary Magdalene had to encourage the other disciples and Peter had to convince the others to go with him.
This Easter Sunday, we celebrate the risen Christ in our lives as we go back to our Galilee and we help others go back to their Galilee. I hope we can help each other come back to Church and celebrate together as a community that Christ is Risen! Alleluia!
Regrettably, I will not be at any of our Easter services as I tested positive to Covid-19. Fr. Chris and Fr. Thuc will be celebrating the Easter services. We want to remind everyone to be attentive to symptoms yourself and do not attend Mass if you are feeling ill. For everyone’s safety, I have been in isolation in my suite since Thursday and will continue to do so until I test negative. I have mild symptoms and am fully vaccinated and boosted.
Please know, I will keep you in my prayers over the next few days and ask you to do likewise for me. I am finding this particularly difficult as I was so looking forward to seeing you in person. On behalf of the whole parish and school staff, I wish you a blessed Easter and may Christ be present in your home and in your life today.
God Bless,
Fr. Brendan