Easter 2018
Christus resurrexit vere! Alleluja!
(Please share with all, Thank you! Compartir con todos, Gracias!)
The Peace of the Risen Christ be with you all, dear brothers and sisters of our worldwide church communion!
‘We are an Easter people and alleluia is our song.’ (St Augustine)
I would like to share with you three Ways we can walk in our lives with Jesus:
First: Towards The New Jerusalem: Discover who we are, and whom to follow.
As we walked through this year's Lenten Season, we searched for our commitment with Christ, our personal life history, seeing our weaknesses that we needed to correct, but moreover we have discovered our strength in faith. We have might come to a new understanding how we see Christ in our life, in our church family, He, our Savior and Guiding Light.
We find ourselves on a journey toward the New Jerusalem, our destiny. Along the way, we need to find the answer: how can we better declare our love for Jesus through word and deed? What is therefore the real meaning and purpose for us Christians in this world?
One situation we face every day is that we are drawn between the world immanent matters and a real spiritual awareness/awakening. We often exchange these two to reward ourselves as it is only up to us, and not to God who is above everything...
How can we reconcile the world in which we live with the demands of our faith in God? It feels to us that there is a struggle going on within us: I cannot leave my lifestyle that I am so used to, yet I do want to be closer to God with all my
existence...The early church fathers wrote quite a bit of this struggle and they knew that the answer is Christ who is all in all for us.
For us as Christians, it is the focus on the Life, and the mysteries of Christ Jesus, His Suffering and Resurrection that will help us to conquer our disbelieves, our status quo, our self inflicted wounds, our own misery that cries out to God. If we only seek the answer through our own making, we will end up nowhere...If we start believing and understanding more deeper Christ in our life, he will provide for us, and we join the millions and millions of Christians who found and experienced throughout history a joy that is beyond all this world can offer!
We have to realize that Christ Jesus is not against this world, "He came into his own..." This world is God's creation. Christ, the Son of God, "took on human flesh" in order to be one of us and he lived among us, human and divine. Jesus's words, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life" is the ultimate answer how to live in HIS creation. We realize that Christ in his earthly life walked toward Jerusalem, the Temple, the Holiest place in Judaism. There he
declared that HE is the New Temple...As he entered Jerusalem, he knew the crowds would shout the "Hosanna" to the King of Kings, but he knew this will end in human catastrophe because they were not seeking the heavenly kingdom, but to foster the earthly kingdom of Israel. So, it was for the majority not about the Messiah, the spiritual and Divine Grace that was present in Jesus, it was their self-seeking way.
And here we find ourselves, we love to walk toward the heavenly Jerusalem to meet Christ, the eternal King, yet we are easy to fall into the trap of self-deceiving ways, thinking we are on the right way, but missing out when it comes to change that a few saw necessary, like Mary the mother of Jesus, John the beloved, and Mary Magdalene who stood with him till the dying on the cross...This image has to enter our heart and mind in order to find HIM...
Second: Leave the old Jerusalem and walking toward Golgotha.
Where do we stand right now in our lives? Are we still walking toward the old Jerusalem, shouting "Hosanna", and not knowing we need to leave the old Temple, finding Jesus who is the New Temple, and made us all a holy temple through the Holy Spirit?
It is the uncomfortable, the miserable No we still carry in our hearts, not wanting to face the cross, not feeling right to carry it, because it is a burden, because the world again tells us otherwise, like you don't have to do this, leave it alone, live the high life that makes you happy, and do not care about the poor, do not feel for the suffering, and curse God when illness befalls you, or one in your family...and on and on...So we keep walking toward the earthly Jerusalem, and not toward the heavenly Jerusalem, we keep looking for other spiritual means of superstition, astrology, and so on, indulging ourselves with material means...
It is only when we say yes to the Cross that Jesus carried, and died on it, that we can say yes to our own cross and walk with Him toward Easter! Again, only this Yes to Jesus, His life, suffering, and resurrection is the most precious word we can utter within our hearts, because it is God's Grace that will help us to live it!
What else is there to look forward in this short earthly life as to find this deep inner fulfillment in the Life of Jesus that lasts for eternity!
"No one can come to the Father except through me", Jesus says this with the same breath to the sentence earlier, "I am the way, the truth and the life"...And Paul confirms it,"
I have been crucified with Christ; yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me". Through this awareness, we are leaving the old Jerusalem toward the Crucifixion of Christ, the Son of God, and not shying away from it through intellectual arguments, through the deceit of the modern world that wants us be trapped in
disbelief...Again, the cross is indeed the only reality of Jesus not having died in vain, but being the Son of God, brutally murdered for our salvation! This is God's ultimate declaration of Love for each one of us! It is the sign of victory over death! Facing this Cross of Jesus and caring on our own cross, will bring us closer to the light of the resurrection and Life eternal.
Third: Walking as Easter People
Having worked as a chaplain for 11 years in hospitals and nursing homes, I always saw people who through their faith found themselves more under the cross of Jesus, seeing beyond their own suffering, and finding inner peace that the bystanders might not easy accept, especially in the suffering of a child. I would like to mention the little story of a 7 year old girl that was dying of brain cancer, and with enormous pain, there was one day that the parents came to visit her, and the girl was so calm, saying with a smiling face, "do not worry so much I am going to God"...The parents were outraged and could not understand such uttering, and asked me if I or a doctor told the girl she was dying, which we did not. Only after a while, the parents came to see that the girl was trying to comfort them through her love, feeling that God will welcome her...
We find ourselves often as the disciples who walked to Emmaus, grieving, talking, and not understanding what happen outside the old city of Jerusalem...And there it was Jesus joined them, walking with them and open their eyes, and after the meal they realized their hearts were burning, because their love for Jesus just found the answer!
We enter with Jesus the old Jerusalem seeing the man made world as it is, driven by greed, deceit, false promises, and mayhem..., we finally realize, we need to take on our own cross with Jesus present, leaving the old temple of Jerusalem, walking with HIM toward Golgotha, encounter his crucifixion, death, and seeing the light of His glorious resurrection!
We are strengthen in our faith for our earthly journey toward the heavenly Kingdom, the heavenly Jerusalem, because it is Him who opens our eyes, and by grace shows us the way, and in the Holy Spirit we find this deep joy that sings the
Easter Alleluia.
Yes ‘We are an Easter people and alleluia is our song.’
(St Augustine)
Let our hearts keep burning for Christ with the fire of love, because He walks with us, and if you still looking for him, let's remind us "
But the angel said to the women, 'Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, 'He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee'...
Indeed, we find Jesus within ourselves, everywhere we go, in our neighbor, in the peace we create, in the love for His creation, in the love for the poor, in working toward a just society, in our suffering, in our joys, and in our longing for seeing HIM in God's eternal Kingdom.
Wishing you all a Blessed and Joyous Easter! May the Risen Lord shine through us, and lead us as we, the Easter People sing,
Alleluia!
With my prayers and apostolic
benedictions
yours in Christ
+Karl
ECCC Church World News:
Mexico:
Bishop Rodolfo had a good meeting with the Roman Catholic Apostolic Nuncio for Mexico talking about our Church.
Asia:
India:
Bishop Suny and his priests working hard to spread the good news of our Church with
success !
Pakistan: our ministers working very hard for the poor!
The Philippines:
Bishop Armando, and Bishop Manuel reaching out to more people, and the congregations are growing!
Latin America:
Costa Rica: Peru: Colombia: Panamá
Our Archbishop and Apostolic Nuncio for Latin America is spreading the ECCC deeper into Central and South America with our Presence in Peru and Colombia expanding! Our Archbishop in Brazil, Dom Lucas will be the Contact person for the Catholic Church Reform international meeting in Brazil this year.
Europe:
Thanks to our Apostolic Nuncio in Europe, Archbishop Hristo, in Bulgaria for his commitment to dialog with other churches.
Our Bishop Agostino from Italy had a good meeting with the Roman Catholic Reform movement, Catholic
Church Reform International in Rome.
Ukraine: and Russia:
Our Orthodox Priests are spreading the good news and living a true ecumenical spirit among the Roman Catholic Church, the Lutheran Church and the major Orthodox Churches.
USA
Thanks to our tireless members of the new Seminary online, it is also going on the airwaves with a radio show.
Please to all of you:
Reach out and recommend to people: seminarians, men and women, young and old, anyone who is interested for going online to study in biblical or theological matters! Thank you!
Here is the Seminary Website again where you can see the different study programs, and needed contacts:
http://www.cathedralofstanthonydetroit.org/st-anthonys-cathedral-liturgical-house-of-studies.php
We are still working on a Spanish Language for the seminary, hopefully more languages to come.