April 20, 2019

Easter is the most joyful of our religious feasts. On Easter Sunday we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus and with Jesus the resurrection of all who believe in Him. We have risen from spiritual atrophy because Jesus had freed us from death to sin. Death to sin is a more unspeakable death then death of the body. Death to sin is spiritual death, it is enslavement to base passions and desires, it is entrapment in a world of evil, prejudice, malice, viciousness and selfishness. We have been set free of those chains of sin by Jesus who rose from the dead on Easter Sunday. What a reason to rejoice. What a reason for giving thanks to God for such a blessed gift on this wonderful new day!

The Easter message is a call to joy, a call to shout out Hallelujah because Christ is risen. It is the good news that Jesus preached while He walked the earth. Accept the Gospel, work with Him and not against Him, and you will be free. The bible tells us that God created human nature, and that it was good. But, the bible tells us that human nature without the renewing grace of God is faulty. Not that the world we live in or the people we live with are necessarily bad, but the world and the people in it are not fulfilled without the goodness of God who sent His son that we might be saved. The Easter message shows what can happen when people of good will give God a chance. God can raise us up if we let Him. He can raise us up right now, give us new life, help us to fight the good fight, make us whole, and fill us with joy.

Joy is what Easter is all about. Be glad and rejoice that you can rise in the morning to a hopeful new day. Be happy that you have Christian friends who are tried and true. Be thankful that God’s grace is at work in you, urging you to greater generosity. Cast aside jealousy, pettiness, vindictiveness, deceit, double-dealing and all forms of evil. These base instincts have no place in the lives of Easter people.

Break forth in freedom and inner joy for Jesus, our Savior, has risen this day. Alleluia!

Happy Easter!

—Fr. Hugh Duffy