For like the Apostles in the reading from the Acts of Apostles, Bl. Michael McGivney bore courageous and loving witness to the Risen Lord, and not only that, he created a pathway for the laity to grow in holiness and to bear witness in their own lives to the truth and reality of the Resurrection, the source of new life, the reason for our hope, the cause of our joy.
In English Para publicación inmediata: 14 de abril de 2024 (BALTIMORE, MD) – La iniciativa Busquemos la Ciudad Venidera ha entrado en su fase de comentario público con la difusión de una propuesta sobre la presencia de la Iglesia Católica en la ciudad de Baltimore que incluye inversiones y ministerios, la realineación de las comunidades […]
The Seek the City to Come initiative has entered its public comment phase with a proposal for the Catholic Church in Baltimore City to include investment and ministries, the realignment of parish communities designed to offer a strong sense of belonging for all and the merging of parish campuses.
I am deeply grateful to the victim-survivors for their courage today and I am moved by their heartrending experience. To the victim-survivors who long to hear that someone is sorry for the trauma they endured and for its life-altering consequences – I am deeply sorry.
But, dear friends, if we had to sum up in one word what it is we believe in, what would that word be? That word would be “mercy”. We believe in God’s mercy, in divine mercy.
Divine Mercy is the source of our newness as an Order and remains the reason why we strike a contrast to the society around us.
To believe in this greatest of mysteries requires us to rely on witnesses – on Mary Magdelene, on Peter and John, all of whom we met in today’s Gospel, and on St. Paul who saw the Risen Lord seated at the right hand of the Father, and on the Apostles bearing witness to the Risen Lord after Pentecost.
And let those of us who have been Catholic Christians our whole life long rejoice, rejoice as new members are incorporated into the Body of Christ, rejoice as we are renewed in our own baptism, rejoice as we promise anew to life as children of the light, rejoice as we share the banquet of Christ’s sacrifice with the newly initiated.
Thus, aided by the prayers of the saints and angels, let us come to understand by what water we have been cleansed, by whose Spirit we have been reborn, and by whose Blood we have been redeemed. Christ is risen, indeed, he is truly risen. Alleluia! Alleluia!
As on this Good Friday we bend low to worship the Cross of our salvation, let our love for the Crucified Savior rule out mere lip service, complacency, and presumption on our part.
So, let us rejoice as Jesus washes our feet and sets before us the Paschal Meal: rejoice in the cleansing waters of baptism and the cleansing tears of penance; rejoice in Jesus’ eucharistic gift of self in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the true presence of the One who loved us to the very end.
Cualquier cosa que hayas experimentado este año, cualquier cosa que esté sucediendo en tu corazón, dondequiera que te encuentres, acude al Señor y encuentra en Él y en su amor lo único que nunca cambia. Jesucristo es el mismo ayer, hoy y por los siglos. ¡Jesucristo es nuestra luz y nuestra esperanza, Jesucristo, Crucificado y Sepultado, ha Resucitado!
