“Do not be afraid! I know that you are seeking Jesus the crucified.
He is not here, for he has been raised just as he said.”
Dear Friends,
These words from Saint Matthew’s Gospel that will be proclaimed during the great Vigil of Easter, confronted the first followers of Jesus on the very day of his resurrection and boldly affirmed God’s promise to save his people.
Yet despite such powerful words of faith that we read in the scriptures and proclaim whenever we gather for the celebration of the Eucharist, the reality of life at times can consume us with grief, pain and fear. These days are no exception.
Once again, we approach Holy Week and Easter with our world engulfed by war and suffering – in Iran, throughout the Middle East, for four years in Ukraine, and in far too many places to name around the world. At this very hour, men and women in our armed forces are in harm’s way as they seek to secure a more peaceful existence for all. Right here, in our own land, immigrants who have become our neighbors and friends, fear for their well-being as their hopes for a better life for themselves and their families are dashed. Antisemitism has once again raised its ugly head. And amid such upheaval and pain, we have our own stories to tell of the crosses that we carry – crosses made of grief and loss, illness, addiction, loneliness and sin.
And so as we have done countless times before in the face of such heartbreak, these sacred days beckon us to turn to the only place that enables our broken world and lives to find forgiveness, healing, hope and peace: the Paschal Mystery, the Easter miracle, the promise won for us through the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus!
But how does a mystery fraught with suffering and death provide us with hope? In his work, The Passion and the Cross, Father Ronald Rolheiser writes that it is only in and through the mystery of the cross of Jesus and our own, which we feebly attempt to carry with dignity and hope, that we find our peace. “Jesus never promised us rescue, exemptions, immunity from cancer or escape from death. Rather, he promised that in the end, there will be redemption, vindication, immunity from suffering and eternal life. But that’s in the end; in the early and intermediate chapters of our lives, there will be the same kind of humiliation, pain and death that everyone else suffers.” Yet, Rolheiser goes on to note, “Taking up your cross and being willing to give up your life means living in a faith that believes that nothing is impossible for God.”
Brothers and sisters, for all that we have experienced throughout the journey of our lives – in joy and gladness – and, yes, even in suffering, death and in the many wounds that we have endured – our belief in the power and grace of God to work wonders in our world even in these most challenging times is where resurrection begins to enter our lives today and peace begins to take hold of our wounded spirits! While God doesn’t promise us a perfect world free from suffering, no matter how faithful we are, he does promise forgiveness, redemption and life because of Jesus’ cross.
One of the greatest signs of the power of God at work in our world through the Risen Lord is the presence of well over 300 catechumens and candidates from throughout the Diocese of Scranton who will be baptized into the life, death and resurrection of Jesus and presented for full communion in the Catholic Church during the great Vigil of Easter. These catechumens and candidates – our relatives, neighbors and friends – will join with catechumens and candidates from around the world in numbers that we have not experienced in years to publicly profess their faith in Jesus Christ and to assume their place with us in Jesus’ body, the Church.
As bishop of this great local church of the Diocese of Scranton, I am profoundly touched by the example of your lives. In the midst of all that life unfolds, you continue to live your faith and fulfill the promises of your Baptism. You continue to serve your brothers and sisters. And you continue to derive hope from a living relationship with the risen Jesus.
During these final days of Lent, Holy Week and Easter, I pray that we will come to appreciate more deeply than ever the fact that we are indeed blessed by God in more ways than we might believe or imagine. May we continue to trust in God’s promise to sustain us and dispel our deepest fears. And may we open our hearts to the risen Jesus and allow him to fill them with his love and peace.
Faithfully yours in Christ,
Most Rev. Joseph C. Bambera, D.D., J.C.L.
Bishop of Scranton