My dear friends,
What wonderful news: Jesus is Risen! Alleluia, Alleluia! “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad.” Easter is the great celebration of victory of life over death. The practical conclusion to be drawn from our collective reflections on the Paschal Mystery the mystery of Christ’s death and Resurrection, the mystery of the Christian passage to life through death is this: “Death’s not what we’re moving toward; it is what we’re coming from!” Those are the words of Fr. Clarence Rivers, a priest composer of liturgical music and a pioneer many years ago in bringing African American Catholic culture to bear on contemporary liturgical celebration. “Death’s not what we’re moving toward; it is what we’re coming from!” The death and Resurrection of Jesus once and forever freed the entire human race from the grip of death. Death can never hold you because you have died with Christ who has been raised from the dead. This is what we celebrate in the sacrament of baptism when you are plunged into the death of Jesus so that, with Jesus you can rise and walk in newness of life. Once you are baptized, you’ve been raised with Him. Easter celebrates his Resurrection and yours. His has happened. Yours will come. Both are intertwined in the sacrament of baptism. St. Paul put it this way in his letter to the Romans (6:34): “Are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life.” We too might live a new life. “Death’s not what we’re moving toward; it is what we’re coming from.”
Estimados amigos,
esús a Resucitado, Aleluya, Aleluya! Quiero desearles unas felices Pascuas a todos ustedes. Esta es la celebración en donde conmemoramos la victoria triunfante de Jesús sobre la muerte. La muerte ya no tiene la ultima palabra, ahora somas parte de esta victoria de Jesús. Recordemos que cuando fuimos bautizados, también fuimos bautizados en la muerte y Resurrección de Jesucristo. Con el morimos al pecado y resucitamos a una vida nueva de gracias. Esa es nuestra fe: esperamos gozar de la vida eterna que Jesús nos ha ofrecido con él. Así que alegrémonos como dice el salmo de este domingo: “E ste es el dı́a del triunfo del Señ or. Aleluya.” Que esta alegrı́a de celebrar el triunfo de Jesú s sobre la muerte nos ayude a acercarnos y a con&iar mas plenamente en él. Hagamos de esta Pascua un tiempo de gozo y paz interior donde dejemos que la presencia de Dios reine.
Fr. Alex Urena
What wonderful news: Jesus is Risen! Alleluia, Alleluia! “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad.” Easter is the great celebration of victory of life over death. The practical conclusion to be drawn from our collective reflections on the Paschal Mystery the mystery of Christ’s death and Resurrection, the mystery of the Christian passage to life through death is this: “Death’s not what we’re moving toward; it is what we’re coming from!” Those are the words of Fr. Clarence Rivers, a priest composer of liturgical music and a pioneer many years ago in bringing African American Catholic culture to bear on contemporary liturgical celebration. “Death’s not what we’re moving toward; it is what we’re coming from!” The death and Resurrection of Jesus once and forever freed the entire human race from the grip of death. Death can never hold you because you have died with Christ who has been raised from the dead. This is what we celebrate in the sacrament of baptism when you are plunged into the death of Jesus so that, with Jesus you can rise and walk in newness of life. Once you are baptized, you’ve been raised with Him. Easter celebrates his Resurrection and yours. His has happened. Yours will come. Both are intertwined in the sacrament of baptism. St. Paul put it this way in his letter to the Romans (6:34): “Are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life.” We too might live a new life. “Death’s not what we’re moving toward; it is what we’re coming from.”
Estimados amigos,
esús a Resucitado, Aleluya, Aleluya! Quiero desearles unas felices Pascuas a todos ustedes. Esta es la celebración en donde conmemoramos la victoria triunfante de Jesús sobre la muerte. La muerte ya no tiene la ultima palabra, ahora somas parte de esta victoria de Jesús. Recordemos que cuando fuimos bautizados, también fuimos bautizados en la muerte y Resurrección de Jesucristo. Con el morimos al pecado y resucitamos a una vida nueva de gracias. Esa es nuestra fe: esperamos gozar de la vida eterna que Jesús nos ha ofrecido con él. Así que alegrémonos como dice el salmo de este domingo: “E ste es el dı́a del triunfo del Señ or. Aleluya.” Que esta alegrı́a de celebrar el triunfo de Jesú s sobre la muerte nos ayude a acercarnos y a con&iar mas plenamente en él. Hagamos de esta Pascua un tiempo de gozo y paz interior donde dejemos que la presencia de Dios reine.
Fr. Alex Urena
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