An Easter message from our provincial director, Fr. Jeffrey Kirch, C.PP.S.
There’s been a lot written and said during the COVID-19 pandemic, that these are days of fear and uncertainty unlike anything we’ve ever experienced. That may be true for us in the 21st century but when we look back through time, I wonder if fear and uncertainty were the common human condition. For poor and struggling people throughout the ages (as well as today), fear and uncertainty were likely constant companions.
We know that about the disciples. Throughout Holy Week and in the early hours of Easter, they were afraid, and rightly so. We can imagine ourselves huddled together with them—under quarantine as Christians, one might say. They didn’t know what would happen next.
What they probably could not have predicted was that Jesus would soon appear to them, glorious in his new life. As people who have been sheltering away from our normal routines, we might be able to imagine in part the joy and relief they must have felt when they saw the resurrected Lord.
Even after they absorbed the fact of the resurrection, as well as they were able, they couldn’t stay in that place of joy. Eventually, with the help of the Holy Spirit, they found the strength and courage to go out and spread the Good News.
So it is with us. My hope and prayer is that even in these constrained circumstances when we can’t all worship together as we’re accustomed to doing, Easter joy will still stream into our homes. I pray that joy will transform us and lead us to find ways, even now, to spread the Good News to the world.