Dear Friends,

            Easter is the most joyful time in the Church’s year, for it is the time when God assures us anew that his will for us is life, not death. As Easter falls in the spring of the year, it is as if the whole created world is celebrating Christ’s resurrection from the dead with an exuberant outburst of flowers and foliage.

            We express our thanks in the words we say to God in prayer and in the actions we undertake on God’s behalf, those actions that Mother Teresa described as doing ‘something beautiful for God.’ The beautiful things we do will differ according to who we are. But they will involve dedicating some of our time and our talents to God’s work, as well as giving God a share of the money that his gifts to us have enabled us to earn.

            As we rejoice in the assurance of new life that Easter brings to all who believe in the God of Jesus Christ, we should also remember to thank God for this wonderful gift, a gift that stems from God’s forgiving love for us. Despite our failing God time and time again, God never gives up on us. Whenever we sincerely turn back to him, God is ready to forgive us and help us to be better than we were. This is indeed a gift of new life in this world, a new life that is a foreshadowing of that new life he promises us after we die.

The new life that lies at the heart of the meaning of Easter is a wondrous and inestimable gift. May God help us to show our gratitude by giving back to him something of all he has given us.