EASTER PASTORAL LETTERS: We are blessed with the presence of the Risen Christ (04/15/01)

EASTER PASTORAL LETTERS

We are blessed with the presence of the Risen Christ

Easter message of the Ukrainian Catholic hierarchy in the United States of America to the reverend clergy, religious, seminarians and faithful.

Dearly Beloved in Christ:

Christ is risen! Indeed He is risen!

Try and put yourself in the shoes of the Apostles, especially during the difficult events of Holy Week and Easter. All of us might feel at home among them. You'll remember that Jesus invited 12 Apostles to a special intimacy with Him, and Jesus spent the greater part of His public life of three years preparing them for complete change of mind and heart. The Apostles had their own ideas of what would make them happy. Their hopes involved largely material things and power. They had their own understanding of the beatitudes which did not include loving their enemies, giving away their possessions or turning the other cheek.

During most of the three years Jesus spent with His Apostles, He was constantly laying out before them a master vision, with a completely different set of values from theirs. Jesus kept on insisting that in His kingdom, all authority must be a role of service. The only acceptable motive is love. The only real force in His world is the power of love. Like Jesus, the Apostles were called to love and to serve. It was a very difficult lesson for them to learn. The Apostle Peter had a particularly difficult time. You'll recall how he protested when Jesus wanted to wash his feet. But, fortunately for Peter, and for all of us like him, the patient Lord understood and never gave up on His reluctant Apostle.

Just imagine, as Jesus hung on the cross dying, His eyes must have searched the jeering crowd below for the faces of His beloved Apostles. Jesus had given His truth and love to these men. He was now giving His very life for them. Yet, while the arms of Jesus were stretched out as if to embrace the whole sinful world in the act of His dying, the Apostles were hiding in the upper room, with the doors bolted and barred. The Apostles had been very visible public figures on Palm Sunday but they faded into a safe obscurity on Good Friday.

On Easter morning Jesus appeared to the Apostles to share with them His triumph over death. Jesus tried to put the Apostles at ease with kindness patience. "Peace be with you" is the greeting Jesus Christ gave them. The Apostles were frightened! They thought that they were seeing a ghost. So, Jesus ate with them; Jesus patiently let them touch Him to reassure them.

The Apostles were deeply moved by this act of love on the part of Jesus. They had abandoned Him, and now, He is among them. And this is when we see the vision of the Apostles really begin to change.

Why were the Apostles slow to respond? Why are we, who are so much like the Apostles, so reluctant to give up our old way of seeing things in order to take on the vision of Jesus? Perhaps we are not sure what would happen to us if we were to give up an old vision. Where would Jesus lead us? What would He ask of us? Perhaps deep down inside, we are not ready to believe that living a life of love will really make us happy. Perhaps we still prefer our own beatitudes to those of Jesus.

In the eighth chapter of John's Gospel, Jesus raises this very point with those opposed to His teachings. He tells them that they are not free, and they insist that Jesus is wrong. Jesus tells them they are not free because their real tyrants are not outside, rather inside them. They are enslaved by the attitudes that rule their feelings, relationships, actions and reactions. It is so difficult for us to give up our own plans, dreams and formulas for happiness. It takes a lot of faith to leave our comfort zones and journey into the unknown.

All along, Jesus had been telling the Apostles that God is love. But they had never experienced the kind of unconditional love that never quits, that never gives up. When the Risen Christ appeared to them and said, "Peace be with you!" the Apostles realized what love really means. And the Risen Christ comes after you today and every day with that same unconditional love.

We, your chief shepherds of our Ukrainian Catholic Church in the United States, invite our clergy, religious and faithful to be Easter people; to be people of hope. We have been blessed as were the Apostles, with the peace and presence of the Risen Christ. We share in the command given to the Apostles to go out into the world to proclaim the Good News. Let us not be slow to respond! Let us not be reluctant to challenge our way of understanding and doing things. Let us be zealous in our prayer and worship. Let us be sincere in our love for the Risen Christ and for one another. Let us be empty in our love for our Church and be eager to serve.

Christ is risen! Indeed, He is risen, for He is among us!

Ý Stephan
Metropolitan-Archbishop

Ý Basil
Eparch of Stamford

Ý Michael
Apostolic Administrator of St. Nicholas Eparchy

Ý Robert
Eparch of St. Josaphat's Diocese

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