Dearest Parishioners and Friends,
 
Alleluia. Christ is risen!  I wish you a most Joyous Easter, as we celebrate the victory of divine love.  Alleluia. Christ is risen!   
 
Let us heed the invitation of this ancient homily (excerpt), attributed to St. John Chrysostom, Patriarch of Constantinople (d. 407), and now traced by some scholars to an older tradition coming from St. Hippolytus (d. 235), long read in the Orthodox Midnight Easter Liturgy.
 
If anyone be devout and a lover of God, let him enjoy this beautiful and radiant Feast of Feasts! If anyone is a wise servant, let him rejoice and enter into the joy of his Lord. If anyone has wearied himself in fasting, let him now receive his recompense.  If anyone has labored from the first hour, let him today receive his just reward (cf. Matthew 20:1ff). If anyone has come at the third hour, with thanksgiving let him keep the feast… If anyone has arrived even at the eleventh hour, let him not fear on account of his delay. For the Lord is gracious, and receives the last even as the first: He gives rest to him that comes at the eleventh hour, just as to him who has labored from the first. He has mercy upon the last, and cares for the first; to the one He gives, and to the other He is gracious. He both honors the work, and praises the intention.
 
Enter all of you, therefore, into the joy of our Lord, and whether first or last receive your reward. O rich and poor, one with another, dance for joy! O you ascetics and you negligent, celebrate the Day! You that have fasted and you that have disregarded the fast, rejoice today! The table is rich-laden; feast royally, all of you!
 
Let all partake of the Feast of Faith Let all receive the riches of goodness. Let no one lament his poverty, for the Universal Kingdom has been revealed. Let no one mourn his transgressions, for Pardon has dawned from the Tomb! Let no one fear Death, for the Savior’s death has set us free!
 
Christ is risen, and the Angels rejoice! Christ is risen, and Life reigns! Christ is risen, and not one dead remains in the tombs!...For Christ, being raised from the dead, has become the first-fruits of them that slept (cf. I Corinthians 15:20). To Him be glory and dominion through all the ages of ages!
 
Amen!
 
Yours in our Risen Lord,
 
Fr. Dominique
Priest-in-Charge
​

​We may sometimes wonder, “Why church?”  Church can sometimes be so complex or repetitive or disappointing or, dare we say, seemingly unspiritual.  For me, the only veritable reason to go to church is if, in church, we experience something that we do not experience elsewhere.  The truth is that we do.  But we must look with eyes of faith to see it.  In church, and only in church, we experience Jesus in the Eucharist.  You may have noticed that you cannot give yourself the Eucharist at home!  Hence, the words of Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, 20th century Italian mystic (canonized in the Roman part of the Church in 2002):
 
Keep close to the Church at all times, for in the Church you find true peace, since she alone possesses Jesus, the true Prince of Peace, in the Blessed Sacrament.
 
As we continue our Lenten pilgrimage, here is a prayer that may help when we come together in Church:
 
O Crucified and Risen Lord,
we gather here in this place rendered holy by You, 
in particular, by the mysterious presence
of your glorified body, of your Person in the Eucharist.
We rejoice to be with You.
We rejoice to be together in You, sisters and brothers.
We come to sing Your praises, to hear Your word, to enjoy You.
We come with dreams,
and also with burdens, which we secretly hope will be transformed by You.
Although we may sometimes wonder how close you are,
may Your presence here relieve any doubt.
As You often said to Your disciples, You say to us “Peace be with you.
With a whisper of our hearts, we entrust ourselves to You, O Lord.
Deign fill us with the overflow of divine love,
so movingly revealed at the Cross and in the Resurrection.
Thus shall goodness and mercy follow us in the coming week, and all the days of our life.
AMEN.