Easter Sunday
HE IS RISEN ALLELUIA!
May God Bless you all this Easter and may he fill your hearts with that sure and certain faith that Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, has truly risen from the dead and offers eternal life for those who would follow him. Alleluia!
Please do know that over these last three days of the Easter Triduum I have prayed my little heart out for you at all the liturgies. There has been incense, chant and bells and at thee Easter Vigil Mass last night I offered it up for everyone in the parish. To not to be able to receive Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament is one of the great evils of this virus and so when I made Holy Communion last night I received him on behalf of you all and offered the Sacrament up for your intentions.
Do not loose hope and keep faith. I started the Vigil last night by blessing the Easter Candle at the back of church in darkness. The church became the dark tomb where they laid the body of Jesus. Then once I lit the candle I moved slowly through church stopping three times and chanting ‘Lumen Christi – Deo Graitas!’ which means – ‘The Light of Christ, Thanks be to God’. The darkness of church was dispelled by the flame of the Easter Candle. This prayer at every Easter Vigil draws us into the mystery of the resurrection when in that dark tomb, that grave of death, Life, real Life dispelled the shadow of death for eternity.
We are living in dark times at the moment, but the Easter Candle we all carry is in our faith in Jesus Christ Our Lord. We have to hold on to him, not intellectually or symbolically, but in our hearts and lives. As always I invite you to pray. Sacrifice time and pray to him. Read today’s Gospel John 20:1-9 and pray to him. Pick up those Rosary beads and pray to him. Light that candle and pray to him. If we don’t turn to the Lord with all our heart and with all our might then how can he ever pull us out of the darkness?
Thank you to those kind parishioners Teresa and Pete Lynch who decorated the lychgate at church for Easter. God Bless you both. Thank you to the many gifts that have arrived outside the presbytery door from an Easter Bunny (chocolate of course) and a bottle of Irish medicine to heal my throat after all the singing and incense!
Happy and Holy Easter to you all. He is Risen!
God Bless with my prayers
Fr. O’Brien
