He is risen! He is alive! Alleluia! We have reached the summit of the entire Liturgical Year: Jesus Christ is Risen! Jesus Christ is Alive! The Resurrection of our Lord changes the whole world once for all: this is the promise that all of us can rise with Jesus and be with Him forever and ever! This is the joy of the risen Lord that we will celebrate during the entire Easter Season: 50 days until Pentecost (June 9 this year). We have entered the final 50 days of our year of the Holy Spirit! 

Sing Alleluia! The Lord has risen! He is alive! For 40 days of Lent, we stopped singing Alleluia. Alleluia in Hebrew means: Praise Yahweh! Praise the Lord! We had not stopped praising the Lord. In fact, we had replaced the "Alleluia Acclamation" before proclaiming the Gospel by: "Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ, King of endless Glory!" But we associate the Alleluia singing with the joy of the resurrection: Jesus is alive! The good news of the Gospel is alive! By singing Alleluia, we welcome Jesus who speaks to us through the Gospel! He is alive! Alleluia! 

During this Holy Week, we entered the Sacred Paschal Triduum, the amazing three days of celebration leading to the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ on Easter Sunday : 1. First day : Holy Thursday , the Mass of the Last Supper, Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament: Jesus Institutes the Eucharist and the Priesthood, 2. Second day: Good Friday, the Passion and Death of our Lord, the Veneration of the Cross: by dying on the Cross, Jesus is the victor over death and takes away all our sins, and 3. Third day: Holy Saturday, last day of Jesus in the tomb and the Easter Vigil.

At the Easter Vigil Mass this year, we hear the Gospel of the empty tomb: "the women who had come from Galilee with Jesus ...went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb; but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus...Two men in dazzling garments appeared to them ...and said: why do you seek the living one among the dead? He is not here, but he has been raised. Remember what he said to you while he was still in Galilee , that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners and be crucified, and rise on the third day” ( Luke 24:1-12).

Yes, we believe in the empty tomb and the Lord’s Resurrection. Yes, we believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God. We believe that for our salvation he came down from heaven. We believe that for our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate, he suffered death and was buried, and rose again on the third day in accordance with the scriptures. This is our profession of faith. This is what we profess at every Mass. This is what we believe. We did not see the empty tomb. Unlike the women at the tomb, we did not hear the two men in dazzling garments. But we believe in the Paschal Mysteries we celebrate at every Mass. We believe that Jesus is alive! He is alive in our hearts. He is alive in the Eucharist: His Body and Blood! Every Mass we celebrate Easter, the resurrection of the Lord! Every Mass is Heaven on Earth! Every Mass is an encounter with Jesus! 

As we enter the great celebration of the Easter Season- 50 days of joy and hope preparing us for the Descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, I invite everyone to reflect on the blessings you have received since Ash Wednesday. For me personally, I am most grateful to God for the graces the Holy Spirit poured upon our parish through the six weeks of the Gift of the Mass. I attended every session (Thursday evening, Saturday morning and Sunday evening) and I am still amazed that about 200 of our parishioners participated for nearly two hours on each of these six weeks. More amazing was the joy one could see on the faces and in the hearts of the participants. We will have soon the results of the feedback survey and we will discuss them with you. We are also planning a follow-up meeting at 10 am Saturday May 11. Everyone is invited to come and share/hear witness talks about the Mass/Eucharist and to discuss what kind of follow-up programs we should consider in future. Mark your calendars!