2016 Easter Message

For all of us who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, Easter is the heart of our faith — its life, its breath, its hope, its everything. There is no more significant human expression than faith in Jesus’ resurrection.

He didn’t just die and come back to life.  He was not simply revived or resuscitated.  Jesus’ Resurrection is about new life, transformed life, a completely different order of existence.  He rose from the dead leaving death behind him. The tomb is truly empty.

Easter is about glory and triumph. “Christ once raised from the dead shall never die again; death has no more power over him.” And the source of our Easter joy is that he offers the same triumph and glory to us who believe in him. That is the meaning of our Baptism when we say we die in Christ only to rise in him: new, changed, different, filled with grace and light and life.

Easter is that moment in human history when the world was changed forever: changed by an obscure Jesus of Nazareth who lived and died but who rose to new life as Jesus Christ, the Messiah of God, the Christ of our faith! Amen!  Alleluia! Happy Easter!

Most Reverend David M. O’Connell, C.M.
Bishop of Trenton