teanc 0 VOL. 42, NO. 15 _ Friday, April 10, 1998
FALL RIVER, MASS.
FALL RIVER DIOCESAN NEWSPAPER FOR SOUTHEAST MASSACHUSETIS CAPE COD & THE ISLANDS Southeastern Massachusetts' Largest Weekly
_
$14 Per.Year
Bishop O'Malley'sEaster message Dearly beloved in Christ,
reMit (JI//' ff~1 ~ 10 h rlJPrIl
CfJO
ith these words sung at the Easter Vigil, the Church joyfully acclaims our new life in Christ Jesus and his victory, won for us, over the darkness of sin and death. For the 40 days of Lent, we have walked. with the Lord and meditated on his life, his passion, and his death. Today, we stand as witnesses to the glory of his resurrection and the promise of new life. Easter, like the beautiful season of spring, is a time of hope and new life. As the spring flowers emerge from the darkness of the winter soil, so, too, do we emerge from the darkness of sin and death and bask in the light of Christ's resurrection. We warmly welcome bur new members of the faith who have been fully initiated into the life of the Church by the Easter sacraments, and' we thank them for the witness they give to us. United with them by the waters of baptism, we all become sharers in the Paschal Mystery. Reborn in the waters of baptism, we have put on Christ. . Our Lenten journey was a time of renewal and reconciliation, a season of grace, as we opened our lives to the guidance and inspiration of the Holy Spirit to remold and reshape us in the image of Christ. Now, during the Easter season, our journey of faith continues, challenging us to live our faith in the risen Lord with a renewed sense of dedication, commitment and zeal. In a homily attributed to the Church Father Pseudo-Chrysostom, we are reminded that the beginning of our new life"...is the moment when Christ has been sacrificed for us. Knowing this, we should strive to possess the principle of the new life and never tum back to the old...." The 40 days of Easter lead us to the celebration of the Ascension of the Lord. Christ returns to his heavenly Father promising to send us the gift of the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, to be with us always. We then begin a novena in preparation for the solemnity of Pentecost, the commemoration of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Church; in essence, the birthday of the Church. This year, a year devoted to the Holy Spirit in preparation for the new millennium, we, as a diocese, will commemorate the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Church in a special Liturgy at St. Mary's Cathedral on the Vigil of Pentecost, Saturday, May 30, at 7 p.m. As the apostles and the Blessed Mother gathered together, so we will assemble in prayerful anticipation of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon our diocesan family. I invite all in the diocese to this eucharistic celebration in joyful thanksgiving to the Lord for the fulfillment of his promise. To all of you, the clergy, religious and devoted lay men and women who together make up the Fall River Diocese, I offer my prayers Tum to page J 1 ~ Easter