Dear Friends,

Happy Easter to you! We are still mid-way through the Easter season and there’s no doubt that we really needed Easter this year.

With lay people observing the sacred liturgies from their lounge rooms, instead of in churches, and longing to once again partake in the Eucharist, while priests celebrated private Masses streamed online, we were ready to be reminded again of the tomb-busting power of the resurrection in our lives and in the whole world.

Locked down in our homes, Lent seemed long and even more challenging than usual this year. I saw one post on social media that summed it up: ‘Is it just me, or is this the Lentiest Lent we ever Lented?’ That’s how it felt alright.

Many of us were thinking that Easter just wouldn’t be the same this year.

And you know what, it wasn’t. It was different. But what many of us found was that the resurrection had an even bigger impact on us than usual.

We were reminded that our God, in the person of Jesus Christ, breaks through the bonds of this world. When we put our faith in Jesus we are putting our faith in the hope that our present situation is not the last word. Not the last word for the lonely who have been deprived of their social outlets, not the last word for the elderly who are living in fear of catching the virus, not the last word for the kids who just want to go back to school with their friends, not the last word for those who’ve lost their job or their business, not even the last word for those who have died and their grieving families.

As I write this we are starting to see small signs from our government leaders that soon we can start to resume some of our social activities again. People speak of returning to ‘normal’. But let’s make sure that the new normal takes on board some of what we’ve learnt during our enforced hibernation. The beauty of spending time with our family, the value of daily exercise, caring for our neighbours and those in need, a reignited fire in our belly of longing for the sacramental life and community life, a desire to create a life that is less busy and more meaningful.

Easter hope is the lifeblood of the Christian. It is what we are all about. So in this time of slow re-emergence, let’s be carriers of hope. Having lived the ‘Lentiest Lent we ever Lented’, let’s start sharing our Resurrection hope with others like we never have before. This is mission. And it is what we are called to, by virtue of our baptism.

We are an Easter people and Alleluia is our song!

Yours in the Word,

Fr Asaeli Rass SVD

Provincial.