SAN DIEGO — Auxiliary Bishop Michael Pham, serving as the Administrator of the Diocese of San Diego, shared the following Easter message with the Catholic community:
“What a glorious day!
“A bare sanctuary is filled with the fragrance and beauty of flowers. The Church smells clean and fresh. The sound of water trickling over the baptistery is back. The “Alleluia” resounds once again throughout our churches. The year has come full circle.
“We celebrate the most important thing we believe as Christian people: Jesus has risen from the dead!
“What we celebrate in the Resurrection is God’s liberating love for his beloved Son. Resurrection is the Father’s response to the cross; his defiant answer to a world that hoped violence could keep Jesus in its hold. In raising Jesus from the dead, God raised every value that Jesus stood for, every story that Jesus told, every preference that Jesus made, and every purpose that Jesus followed.
“We glory in all that has happened. It takes a lifetime for us to realize what happened that day almost 2,000 years ago and what happens over and over again – and will do so until the Lord Jesus returns. When we celebrate Easter, we hold holy the memory of God’s great act in raising Jesus from the dead. We believe that God’s graciousness will be extended to ourselves and that our own death will not be the final word.
“Our faith educates our hope that we will participate fully in Jesus’ resurrection on the last day. But a question raises itself: Is our faith in the resurrection limited to remembering Jesus’ resurrection and hoping for our own on the last day? What happens between these two moments in time? What about today?
“When we look at our world today, we have to close our eyes and ears not to see and hear how suffering and violence continue to disfigure so many people. There are people who can feel their wounds and suffering, which they have had to endure in their own lives. What does the resurrection of Jesus say to all this?
“The challenge of Easter today is to understand the history of human suffering in the light of Jesus’ resurrection. This means that we have to take God’s part, as it were, in protesting against the violence and the suffering that are accepted so readily as inevitable. As Christians, we have to make our protest against death in the midst of life. We are to be bearers of hope for others as we celebrate the Jubilee Year – “Pilgrims of Hope.”
“Each one of us in many ways can participate in our risen Lord’s mission. For example, we are invited to be a voice for the voiceless, to support and care for the needy. We are challenged to transmit Christian values to our children by our words and our good example. Especially – and this is something we all can do – we can pray that all people without exception will receive the great Easter gift of our risen Lord – God’s Holy Spirit – the Spirit who alone can transform our lives and the lives of others.
“As the beloved disciples of our Savior, who see in the dark what no one else sees, we too believe firmly that the Spirit of our risen Lord can bring us and this world to a newness of life.
He is Risen. Alleluia!”
