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Ecumenical Easter

Easter messages by Pope Francis and three ecumenical Christian leaders in the United States.

Pope Francis

Catholic Church

Bishop of Rome

Bishop Carlye Juanita Hughes

Episcopal Church 

Bishop of the Diocese of Newark, New Jersey

Archbishop Jose Gomez

Catholic Church

Archbishop of Los Angeles, California | President, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

Bishop Elizabeth Eaton

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Presiding Bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

This post was provided by Father Desmond Drummer

On Holy Saturday the Archdiocese of Atlanta released a video from our diocesan administrator, Bishop Joel Konzen, who continues to lead the archdiocese until the arrival of Archbishop-elect Gregory Hartmayer in May. He offers five reasons to hope as we endure the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Five Reasons to Hope

by Bishop Joel Konzen

Access more inspiring and informative videos from the Archdiocese Atlanta on YouTube and Vimeo.

This post was provided by Father Desmond Drummer

Father Raniero Cantalamessa preached the homily at the Good Friday liturgy in Saint Peter's Basilica in Vatican City. He offered a stirring reflection on the action of God and our call to solidarity and comprehensive renewal in the face of the pandemic. An excerpt of his homily is provided below:

excerpt from

Good Friday Homily

by Father Raniero Cantalamessa, O.F.M.Cap.

Source: Vatican Media 

What light does all of this shed on the dramatic situation that humanity is going through now? Here too we need to look at the effects more than at the causes—not just the negative ones we hear about every day in heart-wrenching reports but also the positive ones that only a more careful observation can help us grasp.

The pandemic of Coronavirus has abruptly roused us from the greatest danger individuals and humanity have always been susceptible to: the delusion of omnipotence. A Jewish rabbi has written that we have the opportunity to celebrate a very special paschal exodus this year, that “from the exile of consciousness” [3]. It took merely the smallest and most formless element of nature, a virus, to remind us that we are mortal, that military power and technology are not sufficient to save us. As a psalm in the Bible says, “In his prime, man does not understand. / He is like the beasts—they perish” (Ps 49:21). How true that is!

While he was painting frescoes in St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, the artist James Thornhill became so excited at a certain point about his fresco that he stepped back to see it better and was unaware he was about to fall over the edge of the scaffolding. A horrified assistant understood that crying out to him would have only hastened the disaster. Without thinking twice, he dipped a brush in paint and hurled it at the middle of the fresco. The master, appalled, sprang forward. His work was damaged, but he was saved.

God does this with us sometimes: he disrupts our projects and our calm to save us from the abyss we don’t see. But we need to be careful not to be deceived. God is not the one who hurled the brush at the sparkling fresco of our technological society. God is our ally, not the ally of the virus! He himself says in the Bible, “I have . . . plans for your welfare and not for woe” (Jer 29:11). If these scourges were punishments of God, it would not be explained why they strike equally good and bad, and why the poor usually bear the worst consequences of them. Are they more sinners than others?

The one who cried one day for Lazarus' death cries today for the scourge that has fallen on humanity. Yes, God "suffers", like every father and every mother. When we will find out this one day, we will be ashamed of all the accusations we made against him in life. God participates in our pain to overcome it. "Being supremely good" - wrote St. Augustine - "God would not allow any evil in his works, unless in his omnipotence and goodness, he is able to bring forth good out of evil.”[4]

Did God the Father possibly desire the death of his Son in order to draw good out of it? No, he simply permitted human freedom to take its course, making it serve, however, his own purposes and not those of human beings. This is also the case for natural disasters like earthquakes and plagues. He does not bring them about. He has given nature a kind of freedom as well, qualitatively different of course than that of human beings, but still a form of freedom—freedom to evolve according to its own laws of development. He did not create a world as a programmed clock whose least little movement could be anticipated. It is what some call “chance” but the Bible calls instead “the wisdom of God.”

[3] https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/coronavirus-a-spiritual-message-from-brooklyn (Yaakov Yitzhak Biderman).
[4] See St. Augustine, Enchiridion 11, 3; PL 40, 236.

Read the full homily on the Vatican Media website.

This post was provided by Father Desmond Drummer

As we approach the evening of Holy Thursday, a time when we would normally be preparing for the Evening Mass of the Lord's Supper, the words of Pope Francis on the meaning of the Easter Triduum during these unprecedented times resonate with our own experience. The excerpts below are from reports summarizing the comments made by Pope Francis at this week's live-streamed general audience held on Wednesday. 

excerpts from

Pope Francis: General Audience on April 8, 2020

Source: The Holy See & Vatican Media 

"Dear Brothers and Sisters: At this time of anxiety and suffering caused by the current pandemic, we all face uncertainty and may ask where God is to be found in this situation. During these days of Holy Week we can find solace in the account of the Passion of Jesus. Our Lord also faced questions, with many wondering whether he really was the promised Messiah. It was only after his death that a centurion confirmed that Jesus truly was the Son of God. He did this after seeing Christ suffer silently on the cross, which teaches us that God’s power is revealed in humble and self-sacrificial love. We, like the disciples, may have preferred the Lord to manifest his strength by resolving our problems according to our own measure of what is right. Yet the death and resurrection of Jesus show that while earthly power passes away, only love endures forever. Dear brothers and sisters, let us draw courage from our crucified and risen Lord, who embraces our fragility, heals our sins, and draws us close to him, transforming our doubts into faith and our fears into hope."

“In these days of quarantine when we are secluded at home, let’s take these two things in our hands: the Crucified One – let’s look at Him – and the Gospel. It will be for us like a great domestic liturgy because we cannot go to church.”

"I greet the English-speaking faithful joining us through the media. May this Holy Week lead us to celebrate the resurrection of the Lord Jesus with hearts purified and renewed by the grace of the Holy Spirit. May God bless you!"

Read the full article reporting on the General Audience on April 8.

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God Bless!

from the Nguyễn Family 

Saint Julie Billiart

Saint Julie Billiart is the patron saint against poverty, bodily ills and disease. 

Her feast day is April 8.

Learn more about Saint Julie Billiart.

O Jesus, Mary and Joseph teach us: Faith, Hope and Love.  

Today's Readings: Isaiah 50:4-9a; Psalm 69; Matthew 26:14-25

The good God will give you the grace and light to know what is right at the time.

St. Julie Billiart, against bodily ills and disease, pray for us!

"Lord, I Need You" by Matt Maher