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Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Very early on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb of Jesus. She did not find the Lord there, but found instead two men in dazzling white clothes who said to her, "Why do you search for the living One among the dead? He is not here; he has been raised up."

Only then did she remember what Jesus had told the disciples: that He would suffer and die and, on the third day, rise again.

We, who have been baptized into Christ, have also died and risen. In his letter to the Colossians, St. Paul writes: "Think of what is above, not of what is on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God" (3:2-3).

During the winter weeks of Lent, the focus may seem to be more on death than on life. We are signed with ashes, a symbol of our repentance.

The flowers, holy water and Paschal candle are removed from the worship space and we observe fast and abstinence. The weather is cold and gray.

Yet, hidden in the ground, the seeds of spring are waiting for the sun's warmth. In like fashion, our new life in Christ is growing within us, waiting to free us from the winter of our own death.

As we renew our baptismal promises with the blessing of Easter water, we rejoice in the celebration of the resurrected Christ, our promise of salvation and new birth.

Through the freedom of growth granted us by the radiance of God's own Son, we have become disciples, members of God's priestly people.

In the new birth of this eternal spring, we are raised up and called forth to witness the Good News of Jesus Christ to a world so in need of the message of life.

May the joy of this Easter season bring to you and your loved ones the peace and freedom of the Risen Lord.

Faithfully yours in Christ,

Howard J. Hubbard
Bishop of Albany[[In-content Ad]]

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