Easter Blessings

Dear Friends,

After our long Lenten penance, the Church now enters into the glorious season of Easter. We once again sing the “alleluia,” which expresses our conviction that Jesus who once was dead now lives forever.  The somber purple of Lenten penance has now been replaced with the white and gold of Easter joy. A myriad of spring colorful flowers adorns our sanctuaries and homes. New life is soon to burst upon us in the springtime of the year. All of this communicates the hope, joy and new life of this most important season of the liturgical year, Easter!

In this brief message, I wish to convey to each and every household in our diocesan family my personal prayers and best wishes for a blessed Easter Season. I am praying that as you gather with family and friends to celebrate Easter, you will experience the overwhelming joy in knowing that his tomb, which once held his lifeless body is now and forever empty, for he has risen just as he promised. Truly he has risen!

And remember, Easter is a mystery we cannot keep to ourselves. The world with its many challenges and concerns is in desperate need of this Easter faith. We who are Easter people have the duty and responsibility to share the joy of our Easter faith with everyone we meet. I pray that as the Easter season unfolds, we will have many opportunities to share what we celebrate in a grand way on Easter Sunday and eight days after, the Octave of Easter, namely, that the reign of sin and death has been overcome and that as we say in the ancient language of the Church, Christus Vincit! Christus regnat!  Christus imperat!  (Christ conquers! Christ reigns! Christ commands!)

May you and yours experience this truth in this blessed and glorious Easter!

+ The Most Reverend Carl A. Kemme D.D.
Bishop of Wichita