As we know, our writers’ messages in the Sunday Bulletin are reflections of our personal faith experiences –
how we understand them, how we speak about them, and what they mean in our lives. However, for this beautiful celebration of the Resurrection of our Lord, I’d like to share what Pope Francis wrote about the reality of resurrection in today’s world in his apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium, The Joy of the Gospel. It’s important, and it’s grounded in hope.

“…Christ’s resurrection is not an event of the past, it contains a vital power that has permeated this world.
Where all seems to be dead, signs of the resurrection suddenly spring up.

It is an irresistible force. All around us we see persistent injustice, evil, indifference and cruelty. But it is
also true that in the midst of darkness something new always springs to life and, sooner or later, produces fruit. On razed land, life breaks through, stubbornly yet invincibly…

However dark things are, goodness always re-emerges and spreads. Each day in our world beauty is born
anew. It rises, transformed, through the storms of history. Values always tend to reappear in new forms, and
human beings have arisen time after time from situations that seemed doomed. Such is the power of the
Resurrection, and all evangelists (he means all of us) are instruments of that power… Christ’s resurrection is already secretly woven into the fabric of history, for Jesus did not rise in vain…No single act of love for God will be lost, no generous effort is meaningless, no painful endurance is wasted. All of these encircle our world like a vital force…”

When I see the unconditional love between parents and children, and talk with the many self-sacrificing people in our communities who serve people who are in pain and need, the power of the Resurrection is evident. Jesus is the connection between heaven and earth. Life and Love are eternal.

Blessings,
Dorothy Hathway Forbes, CSJA