Happy Easter to you and your families. May the hope of Christ that lives within you be joyfully celebrated this Easter Day and shared with others. In a world facing so much despair, destruction, war, and violence, that hope is needed more than ever. The Easter hope of Christ in you is to be shared.
On Good Friday, while praying the Stations of the Cross in St Anne’s Church, I found myself drawn again to the large cross draped in purple on the wall. It is the same cross that survived the fire, twenty-six years ago this December. As the flames raged through the church, lifting the roof and leaving the walls blackened and crumbling, the building became the scene of devastating destruction. Yet even then, the cross remained standing, though the figure of Christ was scarred by the fire.
Today, it stands as a powerful sign of hope. In the midst of destruction and suffering, it reminds us that Christ is still present. What was damaged was not destroyed; what was scarred stil speaks. Just as that cross endured, so too does the real Cross of Christ endure for us all. Through His suffering and resurrection, Christ’s Cross shows us that hope can survive even the greatest trials. The hope of Christ within each of us is rooted in that same enduring love, a hope that restores, strengthens, and is meant to shine through us to others.
As Pope John Paul II reminded us, “We are an Easter people,”called to live in the joy and hope of the Resurrection every day, carrying that hope into the world.
