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When I was a boy, our family went to church late on Easter Sunday morning. I think we went to the Easter Vigil once, found out how long it was and never went again, at least not until I was much older. Easter was a daytime feast anyway. It was all about the morning when Jesus left the tomb as the sun was rising on a beautiful Spring morning.

After I grew up, I did come to appreciate the Easter Vigil with its rich symbolism of water and fire, and its affirmation that Christ rose at dawn to dispel darkness and to conquer death. Now I love the Easter Vigil.

We celebrate Easter with its symbols of life and hope against the horizon of death and futility. Easter follows the catastrophe of Good Friday. On Good Friday it seemed that death and evil won; on Easter we learn that God was the winner and that God is always for us, never against us.

When I was about 7 or 8 years old my grandmother’s Aunt Stella (my great great aunt) died, leaving two bachelor brothers alone in a strange old house. The house seemed to have a presence of death for me and when we visited there, I was aware that someone who used to live there had died. The elderly uncles spent their days grieving their dead sister and waiting their turn to join her.

Once day, my creepy Uncle Jim (Aunt Stella’s brother) said to me, “Boy, enjoy life now because when you are dead, it is for a long long time”. He scared me and I thought that yes, one day I will be dead and death is forever.

We try to distract ourselves from the awful inevitability of death. Sometimes when I visit a dying patient, the family and the patient collaborate on the pretense that death is not coming. Perhaps it’s easier to pretend and not talk about the truth.

But we all die one day.

Maybe a long time from now, maybe soon, but we all die. A dead person is helpless. A dead person is gone and unable to come back, unable to live. The only way a dead person can live is if God bestows life. We are not by nature immortal; our nature is to die.

In Chapter 1 of the letter to the Colossians, Paul presents Jesus as the source of creation and the goal toward which we are going. Jesus is “the firstborn of all creation”. Everything that exists was made for Christ and through Christ. Nothing caused itself to exist. God is the source and we exist only because we were given existence and life through Christ. Jesus is also called the “firstborn of the dead”. Jesus who existed for all eternity came to exist in time when he took on our human nature. As a human, he was subject to death and he died. But just as God and God alone caused our existence and life, God and God alone now causes us to live after death.

Jesus is the source of our life and the source of our eternal resurrected life. There is no explanation for why we exist except God and there is no hope for life after death except God. Easter is the affirmation of life, not death. Death is coming for us all, but life is our destiny, not by nature but by a supernatural gift of our loving heavenly Father.

Capital Campaign

In my last week’s bulletin column, I reported on the success of our campaign so far ($745,531cash collected, not counting pledges). Because of Holy Week and Easter, the bulletin deadline this week is Monday, earlier than usual. So there is nothing new to report.

However, I do want to share with you my delight in reading the letters that have accompanied many of our donations. Perhaps you saw the wonderful article in the Inquirer about our capital needs. That article has generated quite a few donations, large and small. I have been encouraged to read from many donors about how much Saint John’s has meant to them all their lives. Many now retired people told me how they used to attend daily Mass and stop in for quiet prayer when they worked in Center City. I also read again and again childhood memories of how their families always included a visit to Saint John’s when they came to Center City to shop or visit a doctor. And I also heard from people who told me how much Saint John’s meant to their parents who used to visit Saint John’s while working or shopping in Center City. Saint John’s has a long history of service to people who found solace and prayer at our beloved church. Saint John’s will have a future of continuing the same mission, despite social and other changes. Please be generous to our capital campaign!

Earth Day, 2025

I was in high school when I first heard of Earth Day, an annual commemoration about caring for the environment, for the earth which is our common home. It is held each year on April 22.

We are blessed at Saint John’s to have an active Laudato Si Circle, named after Pope Francis’ landmark encyclical on the duty of Catholics to care for the environment.

Our Laudato Si Circle will give away potted flowers on the steps of our church on April 22 from 11am-1pm. This is a reminder to passersby that it is Earth Day and that we Catholic love and cherish Mother Earth. All are welcome to be present for our parish Earth Day outreach. Just showing up and offering moral support will be appreciated. Our Laudato Si Circle is also planning an activity for students at Holy Redeemer School.

Archbishop’s Pastoral Letter

At Saint John’s, we have been busy with our capital campaign and have not yet begun in earnest to study and implement Archbishop’s Pastoral Letter on evangelization and renewal. However, this is a major initiative for this Archdiocese and we should support it. Evangelization is the most important thing we do as the Catholic Church. I urge you to do the following for now: 

1. Read the Archbishop’s pastoral letter. It can be found at trustandhope.org 
2. Take an online survey at https://portal.catholicleaders.org/dmi/survey/xpy126 
3. Attend the Go Make Disciples workshop that is described in this bulletin column. 

I can’t urge you strongly enough to get involved. We at Saint John’s are a little late to this important initiative, but in the coming weeks, we will be fully engaged. For now, read and then respond to the survey.

This week ...

From the Pastor' Desk