FROM THE PASTOR’S DESK - MARCH 9, 2023
Dear St. Martin’s Parishioners,
He is risen! He is risen, indeed! 2,000 years ago in a cemetery in Jerusalem a man from the town of Nazareth rose from the dead. And that man, Jesus the Christ, is God. On Easter Sunday this truth reverberates in our very bones.
Today we are filled with faith. “He who believes in me will never die,” Jesus promised his friend Martha at one point. “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith,” boasts St. John. Our faith, which we proclaim and live is the fruit of that same risen Jesus living in us. What a gift our faith is; what a joy it is to profess our faith at Mass on Easter Sunday. It is the furthest thing from a stale statement of archaisms; it is our participation in the resurrection to eternal life.
Today we are filled with hope. “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. . . If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all men the most to be pitied. But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep,” argues St. Paul. In our innermost self we recognize that we have been created for nothing less than eternal life, unending joy, infinite bliss and communion with God. Too often we tamper down that innermost truth, but today we bask in its fulfillment which we receive as a gift from Jesus’ resurrection.
Today we are filled with love. We have no reason to doubt God’s plan of redemption and salvation. His love is infinitely greater than our sinfulness. In his resurrection, Jesus proves that the most powerful force in the universe, the very cause and purpose of the universe, is divine love. If death means separation, isolation, impenetrability, and the extinguishing of life, the resurrection restores perfect communion, bestows unending life and overcomes all that closes us in on ourselves. Resurrection and love are in the end synonymous. The resurrection of Jesus from the dead leads St. John—and us with him—to conclude, “God is love.” Amen!
In the Resurrected Lord,
Fr. Dave