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The Lord has risen indeed,
Alleluia!
Dear visitor of our homepage!
Soon we will celebrate the high feast of our faith, Christ’s Resurrection from the dead.
We all may find ourselves repeatedly reflecting on Jesus’ encounter with the two disciples who were on their way from Jerusalem to Emmaus on Easter Day (Lk 24:13-35).
On Easter, the Risen One enters our hearts, even when, at times, the doors are closed. He enters giving joy and peace, life and hope, gifts we need for our human and spiritual rebirth. Only He can roll away those stones from our hearts in which all too often we seal ourselves off from our own feelings, our own relationships, our own behavior. Stones that sanction death: division, enmity, resentment, envy, diffidence, and indifference. Only He, the Living One, can give meaning to existence and enable those who are weary and sad, downhearted and drained of hope, to continue on their journey. This was the experience of the two disciples who were on their way from Jerusalem to Emmaus on Easter Day (acc. to Pope Benedict XVI, General Audience, Rome, April 11, 2012).
Perhaps both disciples were deeply disappointed over Jesus’ death and burial that they just wanted to walk alone in their grief and disappointment. They wanted proof. The disciples wanted to protect themselves from ever again believing in Jesus and risk the pain and disappointment they experienced in witnessing the death of Jesus.
Today, our world, our church, our community and each one of us are experiencing something of what the two disciples felt. We recognize that the world, the church, the Community that we once knew, is no more as it once was. All is in the process of being transformed. I can remember – when I entered the Congregation - being excited about the thought of being transformed. That was before I realized how much pain, letting go and dying to self is entailed.
On their way to Emmaus the two disciples asked the Lord to stay. The unknown wayfarer stayed with them because they asked him so insistently. We too can ask the Lord, over and over again, “Stay with us.” It is in HIM, where the center of our life is. From here we are called and sent. Like the two wayfarers, we never walk alone because Jesus is with us on our life’s journey.
Let us never forget, that as Christians, each of us is called to live and to share our Charism “to be and bring Christ’s Healing Presence” in each phase of our life, elderly or young, sick or healthy, powerful, or frail with trembling hands - we carry our charism, wherever we are and whatever we do.
May the presence of the risen Christ give us new strength and fill us with joy.
"The Lord has risen indeed, Alleluia!”.
Together with all the Sisters of the General Administration, Sister M. Christella, Sister M. Rita, Sister Christa Maria, Sister M. Lima, Sister M. Beata and our staff, I extend to each of you and all who are close to your heart, our prayers for a blessed Easter.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Sister M. Margarete Ulager, O.S.F. General Superior