Dear Parishioners,
Time flies by so quickly. Since the beginning of Lent season on Ash Wednesday where we enthusiastically began with a long journey of 40 days of prayer and penance, little did we think that the situation would change so drastically, that we would almost live the biblical days of the Old Testament and slowly move on to the New Testament. On the night where the Hebrews would set out for freedom, they had their last meal. For the supper they would kill a lamb and smear the blood on their door posts. Whoever house the blood of the lamb was not put, that night the first born in the family would die. Even the mighty Pharaoh’s first born son was killed that night. The angel of death knew no preferences and differences.
The same kind of harsh reality unfolded all over the world, beginning in WUHAN, China on the night of 17th November 2019. Since then, 14,38,994 are affected and 85,586 have died in more than 214 countries all around the world. The dying has not stopped till today as I write this little Easter message. The life has almost come to a stand still.
But then stepping into the New Testament, we have Jesus healing so many people of various sicknesses. In the bargain Jesus also experienced pain and death. The only difference is that He had power over His own death. He rose to a new life as He promised.
“God’s love healed our sin with His forgiveness at Easter by making death a passage that changed our fear into trust and our anguish into hope,” Pope Francis explained. In the same way, Easter tells us that God can turn everything to good, and that with Him we can truly trust that all will be well.
This year we all have gone through a very unique phase in life and we are still going through. Hopefully it will never be repeated again. May we be resurrected to a better lifestyle, where we know what is necessary, important and what is not. Where lies human greatness and power in front of a TINY SIMPLE VIRUS called COVID-19?
My heart goes out to all who are undergoing some kind of pain due to this sickness. My sympathies to those whose relatives are suffering in foreign lands. May God be with them. In the midst of this situation, I wish you all the goodness and hope that the Risen Lord has brought.
Fr. Andrew Pereira