Message From Our Administrator

My brothers and sisters in Christ, a very Happy and Blessed Easter to you all. As people of faith, who have reviewed our lives during Lent, we now celebrate the joy of knowing that Christ, who called us, is indeed risen, and invites us to rise with him to a living faith, based on our knowledge that, by his cross and resurrection, Christ has freed us to leave fear behind and celebrate this new life!

In this year of Eucharistic Revival, we are even more focused on the great Pascal Mystery of our redemption (sin is removed and grace fills the space in our souls) at our Easter Mass. Why, you may ask? Well because at every Mass, Christ, in a sacramental manner, reenacts the entire paschal mystery of his suffering, death and resurrection for us! And then, like the disciples who left after his crucifixion, we meet him on our own road to Emmaus at the breaking of the bread! Like those disciples on that fateful day, we recognize him, and he feeds us his very glorified body and blood!

“Do Not Be Afraid” we are told in our Easter Gospel! We live in a very divided and painful world and sometimes things look very bleak, but for Christians, hope always exceeds fear and anxiety. For Christ, after his resurrection, as he prepared to ascend to heaven, promised “I will be with you till the end of the age”! More than that, he promised to send the Holy Spirit to guide the church. In this, my last reflection before I step aside as diocesan administrator, I invite you, even challenge you, and myself too, to renew our faith in Christ’s real presence, body, blood, soul and divinity, in the Eucharist. To do this we must make Sunday Mass a central part of our lives, so we can actually feed on Christ’s word and body!

This Easter offers us a unique opportunity to start afresh on our journey of faith, inspired by hope, centered on the Eucharist itself. We start this faith filled journey in the care of a new shepherd, Bishop Mario Dorsonville. He has made clear that he wants to invite all to the table of the Lord so we can together witness to Christ in our family and community. In this sense, every Sunday from now can be a Pentecost as we come to the table of justice, feed on the food of peace and receive from our bishop, through the Mass, the mandate to “be my witnesses … to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:11).

This is, of course, nothing new to our diocesan family; it is the heart of our Strategic Plan, which calls us to become, each using the gifts with which we have been blessed, to be missionary disciples, always learning at the feet of the Master (Mass readings help here) and sharing our graces after celebrating the meal which fills the soul with fearless missionary faith. Then we will, as Christ challenges us, say yes when we mean yes and no when we mean no! And the world will know we are Christians by our love!

Be assured of my continued prayers in my daily Mass, for our new bishop and each of you, even as I ask you to continue to pray for me. I cannot find words to say how grateful I am for the privilege with which Christ has blessed me this past year, and for all your prayers, which meant everything to me. May the peace of Christ, which surpasses all human understanding, find space in your hearts and may we, his mystical body, remain united in love.