‘Christ is risen! He is truly risen!’

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ:

Let us celebrate the great and glorious feast of the Resurrection of our Lord, let us celebrate it with joy and devotion; the Lord is risen and has awakened the whole earth!

These beautiful words of St. John Chrysostom, the fourth century Bishop of Constantinople, call us to rejoice in this greatest of all mysteries: the Son of God became man for us! As son of man He died for us! He who died for us and went to the netherworld to release Adam and Eve and all the saints, rose in His very human body now glorified for us. He sets us free. He transforms our lives. He pours forth the Holy Spirit, which is a pure and unmerited gift for us. We now live as adopted sons and daughters of God the Father. We now truly are sisters and brothers of Jesus, the Risen One, Who sits at the right hand of the Father for us!

On this Easter Day of 2014, I greet all of you just as the Risen Christ greeted the apostles in that Upper Room on that first Easter: Shalom! Peace! I pray that Christ’s peace may dwell in your hearts and be shared by us all this Easter and every Easter of our lives here on earth. His peace is God’s gift to us that we might be free from sin and from all distress because His life dwells in us and we dwell in Him.

Yet we know we continue to live in a world of lights and shadows. In such a world, we must join our lives to Christ and share His mission, the mission the whole Church makes her own: that the world may believe. St. Paul is right: We were darkness. Now we are light. That means that we must be light to the world as Christ is the light that illumines our hearts and guides our journey on earth. Be confident that you share His mission. Be confident that you do so as a precious part of Christ’s Body, the Church. Together we are co-responsible to bring Christ to the poor, the vulnerable, the marginalized. Together we are co-responsible to show the world Christ’s life by our lives, Christ’s love by our loving concern for others.

May this simple message resound in our hearts as we greet one another this Easter with the ancient cry of the early Christians: Christ is risen! He is truly risen! Alleluia! Alleluia!

Your brother and your Shepherd in Christ,

Bishop William Murphy