Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!  We’ve all made it through Lent with prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.  Now we can celebrate and come to the joy of Easter.  I love the season of Easter in the church.  In it we reflect on the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ and what that means for us.  Because our Lord rose from the dead on the third day we hope that if we believe in him and follow his commandments we too will rise again on the last day.  Our bodies will be made perfect in Christ and we will walk with the Lord for eternity.  We also reflect on how we live the resurrection right now in our Christian lives.  We get to see how we are connected to Christ in the Eucharist and enjoy the glory of this life in the resurrection.  We enter the Easter life when we are baptized.  In our baptism we receive the white cloth of our Christian dignity and the light of faith to be kept burning brightly in our lives.  These signify the glorious resurrection we will one day experience.   Paul tells us today that “When Christ your life appears, then you too will appear with him in glory.”  This is our hope!  Praise God our Father who raised Jesus his Son from the dead to give us the gift of his Holy Spirit to believe in him, to die with him, to rise with him, to live with him forever.  Amen.  Alleluia!