Easter Message from Our Community Director – April 2019

Greetings my dear Sisters and Brothers in Jesus Christ.

As we begin this month of April we are also beginning the final leg of our journey through Lent 2019.  The journey from darkness to light, from death to resurrection through a ‘campaign of Christian service.’  How has it been with my soul, I ask myself:  Have I taken the opportunities afforded to me by the Church in this season?

Have I met God in the silence and solitude in the desert?
Have I heard Him speak to me?
Have I encountered Him in His Word?
How has it been with my soul?

In these few short weeks left in Lent, may I suggest that you spend some quite moments getting in touch with your ‘soul’…find out how has it been, then set in place your desires for the days before Easter…yes, you may have other opportunities to prepare you to celebrate the great Feast of The Resurrection of our Lord, to sing the Alleluias of Easter….to sing…’all is well with my soul’

This inner journey, my dear Sisters and Brothers, is so important, especially in these days of pain and suffering in our world, in our region, in our families. We have to be strong spiritually….it seems like never before have we, the human family, had to bear such burdens. In our world, sisters and brothers in Mozambique and surrounding countries with a natural disaster affecting 1.8 million people….and I heard the figure of, nine hundred thousand orphans! How can we get our minds around this! And not to forget our sisters and brothers of our faith in Nigeria where the killing of Christians is almost a daily occurrence.  In the last 6 weeks over 300 people have been martyred. Not too many people know about this as it seldom makes the news, but Christians are being killed regularly in many parts of the world for their faith. Then in our own region, the plight of our sisters and brothers in Venezuela and those who have fled to neighbouring countries including ours. In our own country, so many more poor and desperate sisters and brothers coming to our centers every day for help. And not to forget the suffering in our own families.

The opening words of Vatican II Document, ‘Church in the Modern World’ comes to mind….

“The joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the men of this age, especially those who are poor
or in any way afflicted, these are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ.”

I pray for all of us, that, with the grace of this Lenten journey, to the renewing of our Baptismal promises and the rising with Christ on Easter Sunday, we may be strengthened in our souls and so be able to bear our burdens and those of one another with the spirit of a missionary disciple of The Risen Lord Jesus.

Because He lives I can face tomorrow.
Because He lives, I can say, ‘all is well with my soul.’

Happy, holy, and blessed Easter to you and your family………..Rhonda