All Things are Possible

04-04-2021From the Pastor's DeskMsgr. Ellsworth R. Walden

Happy Easter! With all that has been going on in our world for more than a year now, we surely need someone to lift our spirits. Realistically we still seem to have a way to go to get beyond the coronavirus and the effects it has had on us. Two thousand years ago there was a day that changed human history. What seemed to be defeat turned into hope renewed. Hopes dashed and the victory of human ignorance and evil intentions was short lived. Good Friday was followed by Easter Sunday. Jesus rose, showing His power over sin and death. His is the only power that will enable us to face evil and rise above it.

Jesus experienced rejection, condemnation, and non-acceptance of who He was. How horrible it is when we inflict these on one another. How foolish when we inflict them on God Himself. But in spite of the worst we can do to one another, Jesus never wavered in giving us the best we could ever have, the love and presence of God Himself. Yes Jesus rose from the dead and all that was used to drain life out of Him. The Risen Christ came back to His followers to share His power over sin and death with them, which is to share His very self with them.

Jesus rose from the dead and rose beyond evil and all that separates us from God and one another. His is the power of a love that never gives up hope, a love that refuses to go away, and a love that we have been created with an innate hunger for. To open our hearts to His acceptance of who we are is to bask in the light of pure love, pure truth, pure mercy, and divine wisdom. What can hold us back? Only ourselves. In Jesus we rise above all that restricts, inflicts, and constricts our thoughts, words, actions, and outlook. We rise from all that is negative to Jesus Himself and the fullness of life His Resurrection makes possible.

Easter is a time of reflection. A time to ask Him to renew our hope, not despair; faith, not injustice, togetherness, not isolation; and, most of all, His love, not hatred! My friends, we've been through a lot this year, but we've made it through with the help of God! All things are possible with Him and we must remember that!

I close with this prayer from the Easter Vigil:

O God of unchanging power and eternal light, look with favor on the wondrous mystery of the whole Church and serenely accomplish the work of human salvation, which you planned from all eternity; may the whole world know and see that what was cast down is raised up, what had become old is made new, and all things are restored to integrity through Christ, just as by him they came into being. Who lives and reigns for ever and ever.
Amen.