DEVOTIONAL THOUGHTS FOR April  2009

+An Easter Meditation as we celebrate the Resurrection of Our Blessed Lord+

Death, we are told, has lost its sting, evil has been defeated; and so we sing this kind of refrain throughout Easter Week; "This day was made by the Lord, we rejoice and are glad." But...but...we know, do we not, that the struggle between good and evil will go on, and evil, alas, will often prevail. Death remains about the one certain fact in the lives of each one of us, and there will be suffering, sorrow and sadness next week as there was last week. Yet we have the audacity to sing: " This day was made by the Lord, we rejoice and are glad. " Empty words? Tragic escapism? The unreality of religion. Dope to quieten the people? "This day was made by the Lord, we rejoice and are glad. " The great gift of Easter is hope - Christian hope which makes us have that confidence in God, in his ultimate triumph and in his goodness and love which nothing can shake. Christ shared our experience. He suffered as we suffer, he dies as we shall die, and for forty days in the desert, He underwent the struggle between good and evil. But now it's all different, and whatever the future holds in store, Christian hope gives us inward peace and inward joy. that's what matters.
(Cardinal Basil Hume. Easter Day 1983)

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Bishop Anthony writes: At the heart of Christianity is the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, True God and true man. If we did not believe that Jesus died in agony for our salvation - died as the suffering God-Man - yet rose again to unite us for ever with God, we would not be christians. But our great duty, as Jesus commanded us, is to take this Good News to those who, as yet, do not know the Living Lord and, as yet, do not understand what Jesus did for them. And surely, my dear brethren, we should want to share this great News with others! Saint Paul wrote to the Corinthinans: "We preach Christ crucified." This is a stumbling block to some and sheer folly to others; yet we know that Christ's Death and Resurrection proclaim the utter power of God and his unspeakable love for us creatures whom He created. Our Easter hope is the promise of our destiny which is the eternal vision of God.

Let us pray:

Lord our God: at this joyous Season Thou didst open for us the way eternal Life by the victory of Thy only Son over Death. Grant that as we celebrate the Feast of His Resurrection, we may be renewed by Thy Holy Spirit and rise again in the light of new Life. Through the same Christ Jesus. Amen

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And a Passing Thought

If on any particular day we do nothing more than give a little joy to a neighbour, that day will not be wasted. For we have succeeded in giving comfort to an immortal soul.

  [Blessed Contardo Ferrini]

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WE PRAISE THEE, LORD JESUS, IN THY GLORIOUS RESURRECTION! BLESSED AND WORSHIPPED BE JESUS CHRIST IN HIS PRECIOUS BODY AND BLOOD! REJOICE AND BE GLAD, O VIRGIN MARY! FOR THE LORD IS RISEN INDEED. ALLELUJA!

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The Lord is risen from the tomb: Who for our sakes hung upon the Tree. Alleluja!