Dear Friends in Christ ,
In ancient time, on Easter Sunday morning, Christians greeted their neighbours with the salutation ‘Christ is Risen’, and their neighbours answered, ‘Christ is risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon.’ Perhaps this ancient custom should be resurrected today. Christ has risen indeed! The Easter Liturgy leads us in an exultant hymn of praise. The tomb is empty! Jesus is the Risen Lord, the Victor, the Lord of Life, the Living One who conquered sin and death.
Today we put our lives in a missionary key and take the message that Christ is risen into the world, courageously bearing witness to the truth that death is not the end but merely the door through which we enter into the fullness of eternal life, with God. The resurrection of Jesus is the central and crowing truth of our faith, handed down to us first from the apostles, who witnessed it with their own eyes, and then passed on to the apostolic fathers, and through them into the living tradition of the Church today. We are a Resurrection people: ‘Alleluia, Christ is Risen!’ is our hymn of praise. But do you really believe this? Do you really believe that Jesus rose from the dead? Has this profound mystery of our faith taken root in you? Do you cry out, as Paul cried out, ‘I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection’?
Today of all days presents us with a God-given opportunity to reflect on what we understand by the statement that ‘Jesus Christ is risen today’. The following words from Pope Benedict provide us with food for thought: ‘We could regard the resurrection as something akin to a radical evolutionary leap, in which a new dimension of life emerges, a new dimension of human existence. Indeed, matter itself is remoulded into a new type of reality. The man Jesus, complete with his body, now belongs totally to the sphere of the divine and eternal.’ In Jesus of Nazareth, God-made-man, the God-man, a new humanity was revealed, a new creation. This message turned the world of the first century upside down, and it can do so again in the twenty-first century if we will take courage and proclaim it.
It is a personal journey of faith also. I encourage all of our parish community to enter into the full spirit of this Holy & Most Sacred Week. It can be a real moment of grace for you and your families. This weeks’s Newsletter lays out clearly all the ceremonies and masses to help us enter into this incredible drama of Salvation history. (Also on the website & Facebook) The ultimate 
If you have never participated in the Triduum, this really is a wonderful time in the Church’s Liturgical Calandar. Or if you have not entered into the full–spirit of the Lenten Season, why not make a very special effort to join us for these three wonderful ceremonies. When we think of what Our Lord did for us, the least we can do is make a special effort to join with Him as he enters His Passion & Death, but also to rejoice with Him & in Him on his Day of Resurrection. I cannot stress enough the untold graces you will receive from God in participating in these sacred liturgies. 
I earnestly encourage you all to participate fully in these most wonderful celebrations of the Lord’s Passion, Death, and Resurrection. As we begin our Holy Thursday celebration with the sign of the Cross it is important to remember that the next time we cross ourselves will be at the end of the Easter Vigil; the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, the Good Friday Liturgy, and the Easter Vigil, are one continuous celebration of Salvation History. 
Moral theologians speak of ‘sins of omission’, by which they mean the failure to act or speak out in a situation, causing those guilty of this offence to fall short of the goodness of God. Our Gospel today provides us with an example. In most modern translations of the Bible this passage is either dropped into the footnotes or placed in brackets to indicate that it did not form part of the original text. It is also missing from the oldest and best manuscripts for the Gospel of John. It is hard to figure out why and we can only speculate – perhaps a patriarchal culture and worldview rendered this beautiful incident in Jesus’ life too shocking and scandalous, revealing a depth of mercy and forgiveness which was unpalatable. We are grateful that this story, which was probably passed down by means of oral tradition, found its way into the can of Scripture.