Wishing You and Yours A Joyous And Blessed Easter

I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.  ~John 11:25
 Today we honor our most loving Jesus for suffering and dying for our redemption, and recognize and rejoice in His glorious Resurrection. God's plan for the salvation of all mankind continues in our time;  every one of us has a responsibility to carry on His ministry of sacrificial love and service. 

Particularly through the events of the past Holy Week, we were reminded that loving and serving in imitation of Christ can be quite costly. Love can cost us much; love cost Jesus everything.

Acknowledging God's presence in our lives, accepting His love, loving Him in return, and allowing Him to use us as instruments of His love come to fruition in the work of our apostolate, which is refined through suffering. Consider this beautiful description by Fulton J. Sheen in Our Grounds For Hope, "Every tear, disappointment and grieved heart is a blank check. If we write our name on it, it is worthless. If we sign it with Christ's name, it is infinite in its value. In prosperity, Christ gives you His gifts; in suffering with faith, he gives you Himself." 1

Let us boldly look to Christ on the Cross as our example, that we may define the suffering in our own lives as events having tremendous value that resonate beyond ourselves to benefit countless others. "Every pain patiently borne, every blow to self, shapes the real eternal self. It was the Crucifixion of our Lord that prepared the way for His Resurrection and Glory" (Fulton J. Sheen, Our Grounds For Hope). 2

May we accept God's love in its many manifestations and love Him in return. During the final moments of His mortal life, Jesus stated from the Cross, "I am thirsty" (John 19:28). God thirsts for our love! "If Jesus Christ thirsted for souls, must not a Christian also thirst? ...Has He not called us to be His Apostles and His Ambassadors, in order that His Incarnation might be prolonged through the continued dispensation of the Divine through the human?" (Fulton J. Sheen, The Rainbow of Sorrow). 3


Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bend down to look in and saw the linen wrappings laying there, but he did not go in.


Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to their homes. John 20:1-10


Each of us continues the ongoing ministry of Jesus by sharing God’s love with others every day, moment by moment. In this way we fulfill God’s greatest commandment to love Him and to love one another as He loves us. Today, Easter Sunday, let us glorify God in a way that is very dear to Him, by acknowledging the contribution that every person ever created makes through their very existence. To do so we must respect and defend every single person’s right to life. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10:27).

Every person’s apostolate begins at the moment of conception. “For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes beheld my unformed substance. In your book were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed” (Psalm 139: 13-16).

Before each of us was even born, we already began impacting the lives of others and contributing to their welfare. So much good is accomplished by our very existence! In macroscopic terms, our discipleship comes to fruition through our roles as embryos, infants, children, adolescents, adults, and senior citizens. They encompass what we accomplish as students, patients, or retirees, while in training, through various occupations that are paid or unpaid, through volunteering, in sickness and in health. In microscopic terms our apostolate encompasses the many ways we serve God each and every day, from moment to moment.

 

While some of us love and serve others through what we are able to do physically, personal contributions are not limited to what can be seen by eyes, felt with hands, measured, heard, counted, or quoted. Our contributions may be tangible and have clearly visible results, or may have tremendous impact while remaining unseen. For example, people who are unable to care for themselves have great purpose and a vital apostolate. They provide love in many ways and contribute immensely to humanity. They accomplish great things through their circumstances because they teach us compassion as they accomplish the Will of God.

The effects of our apostolate do not have to be physically observable to be real. There are great contributions taking place all around us every day that cannot be seen. No one has ever seen God, yet He exists. His love is real. The effect He has on our lives is absolutely real. Just as real is His love resonating through the discipleship of each and every person He ever created.

Always remember that you are very, very special to God. Every single person ever created is special to God! Imagine how you felt during the most loving moment you have ever had. Multiply that feeling by the largest number you can think of, and you still will not even come close to how much God loves each one of us. Let us love Him in return and share His love with those around us, first and foremost by respecting and defending every individual's right to life.

Wishing you and yours

a blessed and joyous Easter
and an Easter Season filled with  
many of God's graces 
and His tremendous blessings.

God is so in love with us!
Be sure to love Him in return. 

_____________________________ 
Sources:
1 Fulton J. Sheen, Our Grounds For Hope (Totowa, New Jersey: Catholic Book Publishing Company, 2000), 14.
2 Fulton J. Sheen, Our Grounds For Hope (Totowa, New Jersey: Catholic Book Publishing Company, 2000), 36.
3 Fulton J. Sheen, The Rainbow of Sorrow (New York: Garden City Books, 1938) 62-63.
The Scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright, 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.