As I write to you in the latter part of March, cold and snow have yet to loosen their grip completely on our life and landscape. Our Lenten springtime has felt like winter.
And yet, in emerging buds and returning birds and spells of balmy weather, we sense that Easter is coming. With the 19
th century poet Christina Rossetti, in her poem
The Better Resurrection, we might hear ourselves saying:
My life is like a frozen thing,
No bud nor greenness can I see:
Yet rise it shall?the sap of Spring;
O Jesus, rise in me.
Rise in us, he does, when we allow him into our lives. When our hearts soften and respond to beauty, singing conscious or unconscious praise to the One who created it; when our minds search for and begin to seize great truths that come from Truth itself; and when our wills conform themselves more closely to goodness, and our conduct begins to imitate the One who is Good, then the sap of Spring, the new life of the Resurrection, rises in us.
Even more, we rise in him. Jesus has, objectively and certainly, conquered death and passed over into life eternal. When we are united to him in baptism, and when that initial communion with him is sustained and promoted by the life of grace, especially through the other sacraments, we rise in him. The eternal life of intimate communion with God, first depicted in the Garden of Eden, begins already, to dwell and grow in us. And so we begin to see this world differently?as passing, yet full of potential. We begin to live differently?passionately here and now, and yet set on a higher purpose. And we face death differently?not as a painful end only, but as a challenging, hopeful transition and a bright beginning.
Saint Paul Inside the Walls is a place where his rising in us is intimated and experienced and proclaimed. It invites into its fold people who already know this, or who seek to know this, or who need to know this. I am grateful to you for allowing us to do this here, through your prayers and presence and support.
I will remember you at Masses during this Easter season.
We are hosting our sole fundraiser for the year, our Annual Gala, on May 2
nd. This elegant cocktail party will be hosted by Bishop Serratelli and members of our staff. If you would like to join us, please contact the Center for more information.
Rejoicing in the Resurrection and in you, sincerely,