This Easter time I look for inspiration from some of the great Christians in history. We are having such difficult times in many of our communities especially due to drugs. I think of Bishop Fulton Sheen when he reminded us: “Unless there is Good Friday in your life, there can be no Easter Sunday.” We all share in the sufferings of Christ’s cross, before we can share in His Resurrection. 

Easter is also a time of growth: growth in our world and our own personal growth. Siobhan Shaw says: “The Easter egg symbolizes our ability to break out of the hardened, protective shell we’ve surrounded ourselves with…” What is God trying to teach us in what is going on in our lives this Lent and Easter? Lord, help us to learn the important lessons of life. 

Easter calls us to renew our hope. Death and evil did not have the last word; nor do they have it today. God’s power and love are still at work in our world. As Martin Luther reminds us: “Our Lord has written the promise of resurrection, not in books alone, but in every leaf in springtime.”  The new life coming to the land around us speaks loudly of our need to be hope filled. God follows the coldest winter with the green and life of spring. So too in our lives. 

This Easter may we have trust and hope in that new life growing in our hearts and lives. 

Christ is risen! 

A blessed Easter to you and all your family.

Archbishop Murray Chatlain