Easter Hope

 

Easter Bombing in Pakistan

Today, I reproduce a post written ten years ago about attacks on Christians at Easter time. Ten years later I still find it difficult to understand why so many hate Christians and Easter.

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 Reputed members of the Islamic State murdered four nuns of the Missionaries of Charity working in an elder care facility in Aden, Yemen on March 4, 2016. The only crime of these nuns, like some many thousands of others brutally persecuted in recent years, was that they were Christians. What is so bad about Christianity? 

Personally, I like practically everything about it, especially the belief in, and hope in the resurrection from the dead. 

It is clear from Scripture that, even after the Resurrection of Jesus on Easter Sunday, his subsequent Ascension forty days later, and the incredible events of Pentecost, St. Peter did not fully understand the implications of the Resurrection. Only after a personal vision convinced him that Jesus died and rose for all, did Peter see the light. He said,

“Now I really understand that God is not a respecter of persons, but in every nation he who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. He sent his word to the children of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ (who is Lord of all). You know what took place throughout Judea: for he began in Galilee after the baptism preached by John: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, and he went about doing good and healing all who were in the power of the devil; for God was with him. And we are witnesses of all that he did in the country of the Jews and Jerusalem; and yet they killed him, hanging him on a tree. But God raised him on the third day and caused him to be plainly seen, not by all the people, but by witnesses designated beforehand by God, that is, by us, who ate and drank with him after he had risen from the dead. And he charged us to preach to the people and to testify that he it is who has been appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. To him all the prophets bear witness, that through his name all who believe in him may receive forgiveness of sins.” *

I have come to believe with Peter that “God is not a respecter of persons, but in every nation he who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.” Nevertheless, I like being a Christian, especially a Catholic.  As I said, I like a religion that believes in and holds out hope for resurrection, for a life after death. 

I like to think that the four nuns murdered in Yemen by Moslem fanatics earlier this month are living a new life, and that they are not just rotting bodies being picked apart by vultures. It also strikes me that those four nuns, like tens of thousands of other Christians who have also been brutally persecuted in our own time, had already given up their lives in the service of others when they took their initial vows. Like Jesus, they went about doing good and healing.

Even today, the day after Easter, there is the terrible news that Taliban suicide bombers murdered at least 65 people and wounded over 300 in Pakistan just because they were Christians celebrating Easter.

###

*Acts of the Apostles 10: 25-37.

Easter Signs 2025

   

I was born and raised a Catholic and have remained so for 85 years. Frankly, I have to say that I still like being a Catholic. One of the many reasons is the great feast of Easter. At Mass the other day, we heard the story of a woman who was about to be stoned to death for adultery by an angry crowd of accusers who had apparently caught her in the act. They brought her to Jesus to get his opinion before proceeding. His reply still resounds through the ages. "Let he who is without sin, cast the first stone." 

Hearing those words, the crowd melted away, and the woman was left alone with Jesus. He said that since no one would condemn her, neither would he. But he just told her to sin no more. He had in effect raised her from the brink of death and then showed her the way to live thereafter. Her resurrection is a sign of his own resurrection that we celebrate on Easter. 

There are many other signs that remind us of Easter. Some have become secularized and commercialized but I still like them. The Easter egg is a symbol that refers to the tomb from which Jesus arose on Easter Sunday. The Easter bunny itself is a sign of the risen Christ seen by believers in the Eucharistic host. The great Renaissance artist Titian featured it in a painting that is usually called the Madonna of the Rabbit.

More often the risen Christ is depicted as the Lamb of God from the Book of Revelation. More than 500 years ago, Jan van Eyck painted the most famous version of the Mystical Lamb in the Ghent altarpiece. In my own parish church of Our Lady of the Assumption in Fairfield, Connecticut, the Lamb is shown in the center of a beautiful Rose window at the back of the Church. The Lamb reclines on the Book of the Seven Seals with a triumphal cross and banner.

 The word "Easter" comes from a Germanic goddess of spring. Latin peoples use the word pasqua from the Jewish pasch or passover. When the Germanic peoples were converted the Church wisely associated the word for Springtime with the feast of the Risen Lord. All around us new life is springing from the dead of winter. 

One of the many traditions associated with Easter was the famous Easter Parade, especially on New York's 5th Avenue. Here is a link to the ending of the film Easter Parade that featured Fred Astaire and Judy Garland. He was a little old but she was never lovelier than when she sang the title song. The film is one of the most joyful I have ever seen, and so, despite the absence of any overtly religious imagery, is all about Easter. 

Happy Easter.

Easter Signs 2024

  

I was born and raised a Catholic and have remained so for 84 years. Frankly, I have to say that I still like being a Catholic. One of the many reasons is the great feast of Easter. At Mass the other day, we heard the story of a woman who was about to be stoned to death for adultery by an angry crowd of accusers who had apparently caught her in the act. They brought her to Jesus to get his opinion before proceeding. His reply still resounds through the ages. "Let he who is without sin, cast the first stone." 

Hearing those words, the crowd melted away, and the woman was left alone with Jesus. He said that since no one would condemn her, neither would he. But he just told her to sin no more. He had in effect raised her from the brink of death and then showed her the way to live thereafter. Her resurrection is a sign of his own resurrection that we celebrate on Easter. 

There are many other signs that remind us of Easter. Some have become secularized and commercialized but I still like them. The Easter egg is a symbol that refers to the tomb from which Jesus arose on Easter Sunday. The Easter bunny itself is a sign of the risen Christ seen by believers in the Eucharistic host. The great Renaissance artist Titian featured it in a painting that is usually called the Madonna of the Rabbit.

More often the risen Christ is depicted as the Lamb of God from the Book of Revelation. More than 500 years ago, Jan van Eyck painted the most famous version of the Mystical Lamb in the Ghent altarpiece. In my own parish church of Our Lady of the Assumption in Fairfield, Connecticut, the Lamb is shown in the center of a beautiful Rose window at the back of the Church. The Lamb reclines on the Book of the Seven Seals with a triumphal cross and banner.

 The word "Easter" comes from a Germanic goddess of spring. Latin peoples use the word pasqua from the Jewish pasch or passover. When the Germanic peoples were converted the Church wisely associated the word for Springtime with the feast of the Risen Lord. All around us new life is springing from the dead of winter. 

One of the many traditions associated with Easter was the famous Easter Parade, especially on New York's 5th Avenue. Here is a link to the ending of the film Easter Parade that featured Fred Astaire and Judy Garland. He was a little old but she was never lovelier than when she sang the title song. Or view the brief video below.

Happy Easter.

Easter Signs 2022

 

I was born and raised a Catholic and have remained so for 82 years. Frankly, I have to say that I still like being a Catholic. One of the many reasons is the great feast of Easter. At Mass the other day, we heard the story of a woman who was about to be stoned to death for adultery by an angry crowd of accusers who had apparently caught her in the act. They brought her to Jesus to get his opinion before proceeding. His reply still resounds through the ages. "Let he who is without sin, cast the first stone." 

Hearing those words, the crowd melted away, and the woman was left alone with Jesus. He said that since no one would condemn her, neither would he. But he just told her to sin no more. He had in effect raised her from the brink of death and then showed her the way to live thereafter. Her resurrection is a sign of his own resurrection that we celebrate on Easter. 

There are many other signs that remind us of Easter. Some have become secularized and commercialized but I still like them. The Easter egg is a symbol that refers to the tomb from which Jesus arose on Easter Sunday. The Easter bunny itself is a a sign of the risen Christ seen by believers in the Eucharistic host. The great Renaissance artist Titian featured it in a painting that is usually called the Madonna of the Rabbit.

More often the risen Christ is depicted as the Lamb of God from the Book of Revelation. More than 500 years ago, Jan van Eyck painted the most famous version of the Mystical Lamb in the Ghent altarpiece. In my own parish church of Our Lady of the Assumption in Fairfield, Connecticut, the Lamb is shown in the center of a beautiful Rose window at the back of the Church. The Lamb reclines on the Book of the Seven Seals with a triumphal cross and banner.

 The word "Easter" comes from a Germanic goddess of spring. Latin peoples use the word pasqua from the Jewish pasch or passover. When the Germanic peoples were converted the Church wisely associated the word for Springtime with the feast of the Risen Lord. All around us new life is springing from the dead of winter. 

One of the many traditions associated with Easter was the famous Easter Parade, especially on New York's 5th Avenue. Here is a link to the ending of the film Easter Parade that featured Fred Astaire and Judy Garland. He was a little old but she was never lovelier than when she sings the title song. Or view the brief video below.

Happy Easter.

Easter Signs

I was born and raised a Catholic and have remained so for 81  years. Frankly, I have to say that I still like being a Catholic. One of the many reasons is the great feast of Easter. At Mass the other day, we heard the story of a woman who was about to be stoned to death for adultery by an angry crowd of accusers who had apparently caught her in the act. They brought her to Jesus to get his opinion before proceeding. His reply still resounds through the ages. "Let he who is without sin, cast the first stone." 

Hearing those words, the crowd melted away, and the woman was left alone with Jesus. He said that since no one would condemn her, neither would he. But he just told her to sin mo more. He had in effect raised her from the brink of death and then showed her the way to live thereafter. Her resurrection is a sign of his own resurrection that we celebrate on Easter. 

There are many other signs that remind us of Easter. Some have become secularized and commercialized but I still like them. The Easter egg is a symbol that refers to the tomb from which Jesus arose on Easter Sunday. The Easter bunny itself is a a sign of the risen Christ seen by believers in the Eucharistic host. The great Renaissance artist Titian featured it in a painting that is usually called the Madonna of the Rabbit.

More often the risen Christ is depicted as the Lamb of God from the Book of Revelation. More than 500 years ago, Jan van Eyck painted the most famous version of the Mystical Lamb in the Ghent altarpiece. In my own parish church of Our Lady of the Assumption in Fairfield, Connecticut, the Lamb is shown in the center of a beautiful Rose window at the back of the Church. The Lamb reclines on the Book of the Seven Seals with a triumphal cross and banner.

 The word "Easter" comes from a Germanic goddess of spring. Latin peoples use the word pasqua from the Jewish pasch or passover. When the Germanic peoples were converted the Church wisely associated the word for Springtime with the feast of the Risen Lord. All around us new life is springing from the dead of winter. 

One of the many traditions associated with Easter was the famous Easter Parade, especially on New York's 5th Avenue. Here is a link to the ending of the film Easter Parade that featured Fred Astaire and Judy Garland. He was a little old but she was never lovelier than when she sings the title song. Or view the brief video below.

Happy Easter.

Easter 2019

The headlines this morning about the bombing of churches packed on Easter morning in Sri Lanka seemed shockingly familiar this year. Only two years ago  Moslem fanatics in Egypt set off bombs in two crowded Coptic Christian churches on Palm Sunday. The explosions killed almost a hundred people and wounded many more. As of now the death toll in Sri Lanka is over 200.

During the past few years a friend of mine has worked to compile daily accounts of attacks on Christians all over the world. It is hard to read these accounts of varying brutality that occur practically every day. Most of the attacks are carried out by fanatical Moslems. Christians are beaten, raped, robbed, tortured, and murdered mainly because they are Christian. 

On another occasion during Easter season members of the Islamic State murdered four nuns of the Missionaries of Charity working in an elder care facility in Aden, Yemen. A few years ago, on the day after Easter, Taliban suicide bombers murdered over 65 Christian worshippers in Pakistan and wounded over 300. The only crime of those people, like so many thousands of others brutally persecuted in recent years, was that they were Christians. 

What is so bad about Christianity? Why do extremists, both secular and religious, hate it so much? Maybe I should ask, why do they fear it so much? 

Even after the Resurrection of Jesus on Easter Sunday, his subsequent Ascension forty days later, and the incredible events of Pentecost, St. Peter did not fully understand the implications of the Resurrection. Only after a personal vision convinced him that Jesus died and rose for all, did Peter see the light. He said,

“Now I really understand that God is not a respecter of persons, but in every nation he who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him."

I have come to believe with Peter that God is not a respecter of persons, and that anyone who does right is acceptable to God. Still, I like being a Christian, especially a Catholic. I like the half hour of peace that attendance at daily Mass provides. I like the fact that I am not permitted or exhorted to kill innocent people, or even be angry at the guilty. But most of all, I like a religion that believes in and holds out hope for resurrection, for a life after death.

I like to think that the worshippers bombed in Sri Lanka or Egypt or the four nuns murdered in Yemen are living a new life, and that they are not just rotting bodies being picked apart by vultures. Some may think otherwise but what good  does that do them? It also strikes me that in reading accounts of the lives of the persecuted, they, like tens of thousands of other Christians who have also been brutally persecuted, had already given up their lives in the service of others. Like Jesus, they went about doing good and healing.

For Christians Easter, coming as it usually does at the outset of Spring, will always be a sign of new life.



The word "Easter" comes from a Germanic goddess of spring. Latin peoples used the word pasqua from the Jewish pasch or passover. When the Germanic peoples were converted, the Church wisely associated the word for Springtime with the feast of the Risen Lord. All around us new life is springing from the dead of winter. As the last traces of snow disappear, the flowers miraculously push their way up through their winter tomb.

Happy Easter!



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Easter Sunday

                                           

Only a few days after Egyptian President Sisi visited President Trump in the White House, Moslem fanatics in Egypt set off bombs in two crowded Coptic Christian churches on Palm Sunday. The explosions killed almost a hundred people and wounded many more. As a result, Christian leaders have cancelled all services for today’s great feast of Easter.

During the past few years a friend of mine has worked to compile daily accounts of attacks on Christians all over the world. It is hard to read these accounts of varying brutality that occur practically every day. Most of the attacks are carried out by fanatical Moslems. Christians are beaten, raped, robbed, tortured, and murdered mainly because they are Christian. No individual offenses were levelled against the worshippers who had come together in Egypt.

Last year at this time I mentioned that members of the Islamic State murdered four nuns of the Missionaries of Charity working in an elder care facility in Aden, Yemen. Last year on the day after Easter, Taliban suicide bombers murdered over 65 Christian worshippers in Pakistan and wounded over 300. The only crime of those people, like so many thousands of others brutally persecuted in recent years, was that they were Christians.

What is so bad about Christianity? Why do extremists, both secular and religious, hate it so much? Maybe I should ask, why do they fear it so much?

Even after the Resurrection of Jesus on Easter Sunday, his subsequent Ascension forty days later, and the incredible events of Pentecost, St. Peter did not fully understand the implications of the Resurrection. Only after a personal vision convinced him that Jesus died and rose for all, did Peter see the light. He said,

“Now I really understand that God is not a respecter of persons, but in every nation he who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. “*

I have come to believe with Peter that God is not a respecter of persons, and that anyone who does right is acceptable to God. Still, I like being a Christian, especially a Catholic. There are many things I like about it but most of all I like a religion that believes in and holds out hope for resurrection, for a life after death.

I like to think that the worshippers bombed in Egypt or the four nuns murdered in Yemen are living a new life, and that they are not just rotting bodies being picked apart by vultures. It also strikes me that in reading accounts of them they, like tens of thousands of other Christians who have also been brutally persecuted, had already given up their lives in the service of others. Like Jesus, they went about doing good and healing.**

For Christians Easter, coming as it usually does at the outset of Spring, will always be a sign of new life.



The word "Easter" comes from a Germanic goddess of spring. Latin peoples used the word pasqua from the Jewish pasch or passover. When the Germanic peoples were converted, the Church wisely associated the word for Springtime with the feast of the Risen Lord. All around us new life is springing from the dead of winter. As the last traces of snow disappear, the crocus miraculously pushes its way up through its winter tomb.

###

*Acts of the Apostles 10: 25-37.

**Deacon Michael Nabil Ragheb, a 29 year old husband and father, was one of those killed in the Egyptian bombing. His uncle described him:

 “Michael was very diligent. He was top of his class in university, where he graduated from the Faculty of Pharmacy with distinction. He was also a graduate from the Coptic Theological College. He was successful, both in his working life and spiritual life. He was a son of the Church from childhood onwards and was a very obedient, humble and honest person. Since 2006 he served at Mar Girgis as a deacon, teaching the children in Sunday school." (Thanks to Tom Davis, creator and editor of "Today's Martyrs".)

Easter Monday

Easter Bombing in Pakistan

                                           

Reputed members of the Islamic State murdered four nuns of the Missionaries of Charity working in an elder care facility in Aden, Yemen on March 4, 2016. The only crime of these nuns, like some many thousands of others brutally persecuted in recent years, was that they were Christians. What is so bad about Christianity? 

Personally, I like practically everything about it, especially the belief in, and hope in the resurrection from the dead.

It is clear from Scripture that, even after the Resurrection of Jesus on Easter Sunday, his subsequent Ascension forty days later, and the incredible events of Pentecost, St. Peter did not fully understand the implications of the Resurrection. Only after a personal vision convinced him that Jesus died and rose for all, did Peter see the light. He said,

“Now I really understand that God is not a respecter of persons, but in every nation he who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. He sent his word to the children of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ (who is Lord of all). You know what took place throughout Judea: for he began in Galilee after the baptism preached by John: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, and he went about doing good and healing all who were in the power of the devil; for God was with him. And we are witnesses of all that he did in the country of the Jews and Jerusalem; and yet they killed him, hanging him on a tree. But God raised him on the third day and caused him to be plainly seen, not by all the people, but by witnesses designated beforehand by God, that is, by us, who ate and drank with him after he had risen from the dead. And he charged us to preach to the people and to testify that he it is who has been appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. To him all the prophets bear witness, that through his name all who believe in him may receive forgiveness of sins.” *

I have come to believe with Peter that “God is not a respecter of persons, but in every nation he who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.” Nevertheless, I like being a Christian, especially a Catholic.  As I said, I like a religion that believes in and holds out hope for resurrection, for a life after death.

I like to think that the four nuns murdered in Yemen by Moslem fanatics earlier this month are living a new life, and that they are not just rotting bodies being picked apart by vultures. It also strikes me that those four nuns, like tens of thousands of other Christians who have also been brutally persecuted in our own time, had already given up their lives in the service of others when they took their initial vows. Like Jesus, they went about doing good and healing.

Even today, the day after Easter, there is the terrible news that Taliban suicide bombers murdered at least 65 people and wounded over 300 in Pakistan just because they were Christians celebrating Easter.

###

*Acts of the Apostles 10: 25-37.

Easter Signs and Symbols

The Easter egg is a symbol that refers to the tomb from which Jesus arose on Easter Sunday. Other symbols of the risen Lord include the resurrected Lamb from the Book of Revelation. 

In the Church of Our Lady of the Assumption in Fairfield, Connecticut, the Lamb is shown in the center of a beautiful Rose window at the back of the Church. The Lamb reclines on the Book of the Seven Seals with a triumphal cross and banner. Click on the image to enlarge.*



The word "Easter" comes from a Germanic goddess of spring. Latin peoples use the word pasqua from the Jewish pasch or passover. When the Germanic peoples were converted, the Church wisely associated the word for Springtime with the feast of the Risen Lord. All around us new life is springing from the dead of winter. As the last traces of snow disappear, the crocus miraculously pushes its way up through its winter tomb.

The Easter Parade is no longer the fixture it once was but tomorrow night Turner Classic Movies will feature the wonderful movie with Fred Astaire and Judy Garland. Here is a link to a clip of Judy singing "In Your Easter Bonnet" to Fred. He's a little old but still dapper, and she never looked or sang better. Or, if your device permits, click on the video below.

Easter Sunday Blackout

            Easter Sunday

                                    

Today I got up and opened my Yahoo home page and was surprised to find no mention of Easter. It's not as if there was a lot of pressing or important news items crowding it out. The lead article was about the football draft and Easter wasn't even trending. Then, I went out into my driveway to pick up the Sunday paper. Again, the front page was devoid of any mention of Easter, and even a look inside failed to turn up any mention of the great Christian feast. It's enough to make one a conspiracy theorist.

Anyway, please pardon me if I reflect a little on Easter and its meaning to over a billion Christians all over the World.

The Catholic Church uses many different readings on Easter. The Saturday Vigil Mass has seven readings from the Old Testament: St. Paul's famous letter to the Romans--"Christ raised from the dead, dies no more; death no longer has power over Him;" and St. Mark's account of the empty tomb. In the afternoon Mass there is the account of the risen Lord's appearance to the disciples on the road to Emmaus.

The morning Mass, however, begins with a reading from the Acts of the Apostles. Peter is preaching. Remember how prominently Peter appeared in the readings during Holy Week. Last Sunday he told Jesus that he would follow Him to prison, even to death. But his Lord predicted that Peter would deny Him three times before the cock crows. Peter's subsequent denial is one of the few things reported in all four gospels. It is virtually impossible to doubt the historical basis of Peter's denial.

Today it's a different Peter. He gives as good an account of the life and work of Jesus as you will find anywhere. Then he bears witness to the Resurrection,

            This man God raised on the third day and granted

            that He be visible...to us,...

            who ate and drank with Him after He rose from the dead.

Finally, he makes the claim "that everyone who believes in Him will receive forgiveness of sins through His name."

However, it's easy to imagine that Peter might have felt differently after the death of Jesus. He didn't know how the story was going to come out. What was there to believe? As St. John says in today's gospel, "they did not yet understand the Scripture that He had to rise from the dead." Not only had his Lord been brutally tortured and killed, but Peter had also turned his back on Jesus. He especially could have no hope of a resurrection or new day.  Wouldn't Peter think that his own sin, his own lack of faith, could never be forgiven?

Then Mary Magdalene comes rushing in on the first Easter Sunday morning to tell them that the tomb is empty. Fearing that the Lord's body had been stolen Peter and John race to the tomb only to find the burial cloths neatly rolled up with no evidence of foul play. In the gospel St. John tells us that "he saw and believed." St. Luke tells us that Peter was "amazed."  

Is this why Christians come together on Easter Sunday? Is it to peer inside the empty tomb? The empty tomb itself means nothing. As St. Mark said last night, "He has been raised; he is not here." It's His appearances that matter. Over the next fifty days we'll hear about all of His appearances. He'll appear to Mary Magdalene in the garden; to the disciples on the road to Emmaus; to the Apostles in the upper room; to doubting Thomas; to the fishermen in Galilee; and to countless other witnesses. Finally, His Holy Spirit will come upon them at Pentecost..

As we listen to these witnesses we'll have to examine our own belief. After all, St. Paul said that "if Christ is not risen, our faith is in vain." In other words if Christ is not risen, there will be no resurrection for us. However, maybe some of us feel like we're in the same position as Peter. Maybe doubts have crept in, maybe we're too secure, or maybe something has caused us to deny our Lord and turn our backs on Him.

The only way to rekindle our faith is to act differently. We have to realize that like the Apostles we are called to be witnesses of the Risen Christ. St. Paul calls us the "yeast" that leavens the dough. In our own little way each of us is called to bring Christ to each other. Last week during the reading of the Passion, our Lord said to Peter;

            Simon, Simon, behold Satan has demanded

            to sift all of you like wheat,

            but I have prayed that your own faith may not fail;

            and once you have turned back,

            you must strengthen your brothers.

The Albanian nun who became Mother Teresa did not wait for someone else to pick up that little deserted child in the street and bathe his sores. She saw the Risen Christ in him and in all the others she helped. Did the young Polish priest who became John Paul II ever imagine when he took his first vows that he would bring the Risen Christ to more people than all the previous Popes put together?

The word "Easter" comes from a Germanic goddess of spring. Latin peoples use the word pasqua from the Jewish pasch or Passover. When the Germanic peoples were converted the Church wisely associated the word for Springtime with the feast of the Risen Lord. All around us new life is springing from the dead of winter. And so, as St. Paul says,

            let us celebrate the feast,

            not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness,

            but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

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Reading 1.Acts 10:34a, 37-43

Reading II. Colossians 3: 1-4 or

1 Corinthians 5: 6b-8

Gospel. John 20: 1-9 (Easter).