Today we celebrate the most important day of all our Holy Days and spiritual year.  The Resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, holds the promise of eternal life.  Heaven is now open to us and eternal life is no longer an illusion, but a reality.  “God so loved the world...that we might have Eternal life.” (Jn 3:16)  St. Paul tells us, “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching and faith are in vain.” (1 Cor. 15:14)  The Catechism of the Catholic Church, sections 654 and 655 state, “By His Resurrection, He opens for us the way to a new life” and “The  Risen Christ Himself is the source of our future Resurrection.”

 In our celebrations of baskets, candies, hams and family get-togethers, it’s easy to secularize the day as some ordinary rite of passage from winter into spring.  Yet, the colors and pastels, the food and fellowship, the baskets and candies signify a greater reality:  that the gloom of Lent has given way to the dazzle of empty tombs and sightings of the Resurrected Lord in the midst of the Early Church.  Christ is not dead, but is risen.  Without embarrassment or fear we shout loudly and clearly, “Alleluia!”  We are less burdened by the fact that God is joy and is pleased that we work with Him with renewed hope and with clear focus.

 May you have a very blessed and Holy Easter.  May the next forty days of the Easter Season keep the light of Christ’s promise and action alive in our hearts.