“Repent and believe in the Gospel!”

Do those words “ring a bell?” This command was given to us on Ash Wednesday. Well? “How are we doing?” Have we repented? Have we welcomed and opened our minds and hearts to the Gospel?

My sisters and brothers, the Lenten season, Holy Week, the Triduum, and Easter beg us to reflect on the necessity to be reconciled and restored in our relationship with the Lord before his Coming and the time of judgment. Be it the “resurrection of life” or the “resurrection of condemnation” as mentioned in the Gospel of John, Jesus reminds us: “I judge as I hear, and my judgment is just…”

Jesus reassures us: “Amen, amen, I say to you, the hour is coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. Whoever hears my word and believes in the one who sent me has eternal life and will not come to condemnation but has passed from death to life.”

May Christ’s grace and mercy help us to accept the Father’s will in our lives and lead us to eternal life and the great promise of Easter Sunday - Resurrection!

Merciful Father,
may the penance of our Lenten observance make us your obedient people.
May the love within us be seen in what we do and lead us to the glories of Easter.
Amen.

Wishing all of you, within this Jubilee Year of Hope, A Joyful and Happy Easter!

Bishop Cotta

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