Dear Beloved Parishioners,

“Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; He has risen!” – Luke 24:5-6

As we celebrate Easter—the heart of our Christian faith—we are reminded not only of a historical event, but of a profound psychological and spiritual truth: hope is stronger than despair, love is stronger than death, and healing is always possible.

“As he rode along, the people were spreading their cloaks on the road.” (Luke 19:36)

Consider how useless it is to spread your clothes on the ground for a donkey to walk on. The clothes get smeared with hooves, and who knows the grimy places where they’ve been? The animal may leave some unsavory presents on them. They may get stolen by a thief looking to make a buck.

“The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery and made her stand in the middle” (John 8:3). Why do they make her stand in the middle? Why not expose her on the periphery? The reason is something that affects us practically every day.

A man looking a bit downtrodden approached me as I filled my car’s gas tank. He asked, “May I share with you my testimony about how good God is?” “OK,” I skeptically answered. He went on to tell me that he had been an alcoholic and drug addict, and that God had healed him; now he was four years sober.

My childhood best friend was Xander Price. He was the fastest runner in school, an excellent baseball player, and Jewish. Though his family wasn’t intensely religious, I felt totally at home with them despite our religious differences. Everything about their Judaism seemed to undergird and strengthen my own experience of being a Catholic. I knew they didn’t believe in Jesus like my family did, but I intuited somehow that Jesus was “hiding” in their religion. Like a cat moving under a blanket, ready to emerge at any moment, the Lord was hidden there in a special way.

St. Thomas Aquinas said that friends share three things: time, possessions and secrets. For example, how do I know if you’re my friend? Well, let’s say we’ve been to Mexico together, you’ve tried my shaky attempts at pasta carbonara, and you know what ridiculous costume I wore in a music video I filmed in my early twenties. We, dear reader, are definitely friends. We’ve shared time, possessions and secrets.

One of the most fascinating moments in American history is when George Washington could have become the king of the newly liberated United States and didn’t.

At the height of his power and fame, on Dec. 23, 1783, he resigned his commission as Commander-in-Chief, and went home. The astonished King of England remarked that in doing so, Washington was “the greatest man in the world.” Greatness is often defined by what we could do but don’t. Greatness is measured by the temptations we overcome.

One of the things that older pastors and younger priests occasionally quarrel about is the proper balance between work and prayer. I know one pastor who complains that his younger associate ignores the people and the parish because he wants to spend more time in prayer. And the young priest complains that the pastor gives him too much work to do and no time to pray.