Happy Easter!

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"Do not abandon yourselves to despair. We are the Easter people and hallelujah is our song!"
                                   -Pope St. John Paul II

A joyous and blessed Easter to you all!

Like Christmas, Easter is an entire season of celebrating and reflecting on the earth-shattering news that Jesus has risen from the dead. Violence, hatred, jealousy, sin and even death itself did not have the last word.  Instead, God has overcome all of this and once more walks among his people. It is a time for celebration, indeed!  

The Easter Stations of Resurrection
To celebrate this season of Easter, we will pray the Stations of the Resurrection together. These stations, also called the Via Lucis (Way of Light), are similar to the Lenten Stations of the Cross in that they also follow the footsteps of Christ. The big difference, though, is that the Stations of the Resurrection trace Jesus' journey from his resurrection to the feast of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descends upon Mary and the apostles in the Upper Room. 

In 2001, the Vatican commended the practice of the Via Lucis by saying "Through the Via Lucis, the faithful recall the central event of the faith – the resurrection of Christ – and their discipleship in virtue of Baptism, the paschal sacrament by which they have passed from the darkness of sin to the bright radiance of the light of grace.  Using the metaphor of a journey, the Via Lucis moves from the experience of suffering, which in God's plan is part of life, to the hope of arriving at man's true end: liberation, joy and peace which are essentially paschal values."

There are 14 Stations of the Resurrection, and we will pray and post one station each day, for 14 days. We have invited catechists from our different RE programs to reflect on each station. We invite you to comment on the stations, as well!

Introduction
Sign of the Cross

All:  Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.
O sons and daughters, let us sing!
The King of heaven the glorious King,
Over death today rose triumphing, Alleluia!

Reading:  'For we have grown into union with Christ through a death like His, we shall also be united with Him in the resurrection....If, then, we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall live with Him....Consequently, you too must think of yourselves as being dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus: (Romans 6: 5, 7, 11).

Reflection:  Let us walk this pilgrimage of faith, the Via Lucis, as daughters and sons of the light and as witnesses of the Risen Lord. Let us meditate upon the resurrection of Christ and discover the pathway of light that Christ blazes through our lives.
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