Thomas Merton, who died in 1968, was a Trappist monk whose writings have had a powerful impact upon the world in which we live.  Every Lenten season as we approach Easter, (it is Monday in Holy Week )I pull his little book “He Is Risen” off my shelf and read it preparation for Easter.  So, as Easter is only a few days from now, I share with you a brief excerpt from his book. I hope you find it meaningful as we move through this week toward Easter.  He writes of the resurrection:

 

                        So we are called not only to believe that Christ once

                        rose from the dead, thereby proving that he was God;

                        we are called to experience the Resurrection in our own

                        lives by entering into this dynamic movement, by follow-

                        ing Christ who lives in us.  This life, this dynamism, is

                        expressed by the power of love and of encounter:  Christ

                        lives in us, if we love one another.  And our love for

                        one another means involvement in one another's history.

 

                        Christ lives in us and leads us, through mutual encounter

                        and commitment, into a new future which we build together.

                        That future is called the Kingdom of God.  The Kingdom is

                        already established; the Kingdom is a present reality.  But

                        there is still work to be done.  Christ calls us to work

                        together in building his Kingdom.  We cooperate with him

                        in bringing it to perfection.

 

                        Such is the timeless message of the Church not only on

                        Easter Sunday but on every day of the year and every

                        year until the world's end.  The dynamism of the Easter

                        mystery is at the heart of the Christian faith.  It is

                        the life of the Church {God's faithful people}.  The

                        Resurrection is not a doctrine we try to prove or a

                        problem we argue about:  it is the life and action of

                        Christ himself in us by his Holy Spirit.

 

This then is the joy and the hope that we celebrate on Easter.  May it so fill us that we shall go forth sharing the love and the peace of the Risen Christ with all who cross our path of life.

                                                                                               

                 God's blessings as we await Easter’s dawn....  

      

                                                                                  Pastor Kurt +