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From the Associate…
THE FIRST DAY OF THE WORLD
Easter! The very name on a page brings joy to the mind and heart. Listen to St. Jerome, the great Doctor of the Church, as he speaks of this day:
I have not the power to bring forth in words what I conceive in my mind, nor does my tongue give full expression to the joy that is in my heart. To me, it seems that this day is brighter beyond all other days. A brighter sun has begun to shine upon the world. The stars, too, and all the elements rejoice, and those that had withdrawn their proper light during the Lord's Passion and had fled, refusing to look upon their Creator crucified, now fulfill their appointed duty and are in attendance upon Him, the Victor, as He rises from the dead in the brilliance of their glow.
All the earth dead in sin, lifeless, doomed to be shut out from the joy of Paradise. The human race enslaved, drawn by sin into the power of the devil, without hope and estranged from the God who had made them. Then the great drama, the invasion into the Silent Planet of Divinity in disguise, the mingling of heaven and earth, God and man miraculously made one in the person of Jesus. The promised King has come! The Messiah who is to rule the nations is among us! Crowds followed him, demons fled from him, light surrounded him. But those who loved the darkness resisted him, and sought to kill him. Then the horrible happened. Betrayed by a friend, abandoned by his disciples, delivered into the hands of his enemies, God himself was abandoned and murdered by the human race. He allowed all the anger and hatred and evil of history to crash down upon his head, and he bore it all through an agonizing ordeal; bore it all for no gain for himself; bore it all so that there could be new beginning to a captive and dying race, so that those whose hearts sought him could be freed from their chains and be given the gift of eternal life. And though having been put to a brutal and humiliating death, having been broken in body and crushed in spirit, he smashed death's hold, he grappled with the ancient enemy and threw him down, and he rose to resplendent new life.
Nothing will ever be the same. This is the day of our freedom.
Without this day, we are lost. On this day we are found. Without this day we are slaves forever. On this day we are made royal children for eternity. "This is the day the Lord has made," the first day of the new world. Christ is the new Adam, Mary the new Eve, and a new age dawns for the human race. Hear the ancient Easter summons:
Come then, all you nations of men, receive forgiveness for the sins that defile you. I am your forgiveness. I am the Passover that brings salvation. I am the lamb who was immolated for you. I am your ransom, your life, your resurrection, your light, I am your salvation and your king. I will bring you to the heights of heaven. With my own right hand I will raise you up, and I will show you the eternal Father.
May we answer the summons, and may our hearts be united in the wonder and the joy of Easter.
Fr. Michael Keating
School News…
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