The headlines for Holy Week and the first day of Easter Season makes my soul weep.  I wonder how can I celebrate the Resurrection of my Lord.  I am looking for my Easter Message.

“And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and My Father are one.”  John 10:28-30*

If you are a Christian and celebrate Easter with your community, do you look for an Easter Message just for you?  I do.  I learned this from my mother.  She taught me that God has messages just for us inside sermons and scripture.  We have to seek them.  You know what?  When I seek my personal message, I find it.  It may not be on Easter Sunday.  But in my Faith, the Easter Season is fifty days.  The Season starts on Easter Sunday and concludes fifty days later on Pentecost Sunday.

Asking, seeking, and knocking has become a big part of my transition from worker to author.  I’m not there yet.  Remember Jesus taught us, in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 7:7-8*:

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

I woke this morning to horrible news.  Hundreds killed in Sri Lanka.  Many were celebrating the Resurrection of Lord:

• Fire rages through three churches in Louisiana and Notre Dame in France.
• A man walks into St. Patrick’s Cathedral with gasoline.  His intentions are unknown.
• This morning we hear of bombings at churches, hotels, and a residential district in Sri Lanka on Easter Morning.  Hundreds of people are martyred.
• The news reports that the Pope does not offer an Easter Sunday homily.  The reporters’ question and speculate.  Why?

The list goes on and on.  I go to my Lighthouse with a heavy heart.  When I find my seat, I ask God, “how do I rejoice?”  There is no answer.  I pray what is in my heart.  I pray for the families left behind.  I pray for the souls lost.  I pray for justice.  I pray for forgiveness as judgment rises in my soul.  No answers.

The Priest presiding our early morning Mass gave us the Easter message of the hope of the Resurrection.  The one thing he said* that stuck with me was:  It does not matter what happens, Christ has the victory.  Even if they take our life, we win, because we are with the Lord.  They can beat us.  They can talk behind our backs.  Take away our money, land, family… you can fill in the blanks here.  They can kill us.  No matter what, Jesus says: “… I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand…”  We are His forever.

That is my message from God:  We are His, forever and ever.  Amen.  We shall never perish and neither shall we be snatched out of His hand.

Fire rages through three churches in Louisiana and Notre Dame in France–The Church community draws together.

A man walks into St. Patrick’s Cathedral.  His intentions are unknown. –He is stopped.

This morning hundreds of people are martyred.–They are with the Lord.

The Pope has no message–God has a message just for you.  Tailored for where you are in your journey.  You only have to look for it.

This Lenten and Easter Season the Church appears to be under attack.  It does not matter the season or significance of the day.  Evil can strike at any time.  Christians are called to rejoice.  Even with a weary heavy heart.  (I Thessalonians 5:16).  Today I rejoiced in a simple fact:  I am His, they are His, and we are His.

Message received my Lord.  What is your Easter message?  I’d love to know what God has shared with you.

Have a Blessed Easter, my Friends,

Milly

Notes:

*All scriptures are from the New King James Version of the Holy Bible

**I paraphrased Father’s message today.

The photo by Milly.  It is of my African Violet, that bloomed on Holy Saturday.

Have a Blessed Easter