Beloved parishioners of SFX,

Happy Easter – again and again! Kierkegaard once remarked “why do Christians look so sad? Don’t they know they are redeemed?” This allegedly dour Dane makes a good point: Jesus has risen – triumphant over pain, suffering, and death. Why be distraught and de pressed? “Rejoice and be Glad!”

During the Easter season Gospels, we hear of Jesus’ appearances to his disciples, and how all of them are incredulous at his arrival. They want physical proof that he is not a ghost or a spirit. Thomas insists on putting is fingers in the nail-marks. Mary Magdalene clings to his feet. And this week, the disciples have to witness him eating in order to prove that Jesus is flesh and blood.

May the Joy and Glory of Easter continue to fill you with great Peace and Hope!

In today’s gospel, the Risen Jesus returns to visit with his friends, his disciples, to help them to better understand what happened at the Easter Event and to better understand how He wanted them to move forward. His friends were astonished when they first saw Jesus and it took a few moments for them to truly recognize Him. When they did, they were filled with joy! He said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” And then, He breathed the Holy Spirit upon them. He breathed upon them his love, strength and courage, all that they would need to continue His mission, for there was still much work to do!

The fourth and final week of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius is Jesus risen from the dead. Since we are always living in the time of Jesus resurrected, the retreat never really ends. During the retreat, the retreatant is asked to pray for a specific grace, one geared to the spirit of that particular week. The grace for the fourth week is to enter into the joy of Jesus raised from the dead. This is more difficult than one would image. (Most of us find it easier to remain in the third week of Jesus’s passion and death, especially after this past year because of all we have lost).

Dear friends,

As we enter into Holy Week, we are called to grow in our love of Christ by following him through his passion, death, and resurrection. But in order to grow in love, we must grow in our knowledge of Jesus, because it is difficult to love someone you do not know. To this end, St. Ignatius invites us to focus not so much on our head, but on our heart. In Ignatius’ native language, Spanish, he distinguishes between intellectual knowledge (saber) – knowing Christ in theological terms; familiar knowledge (conocer) – knowing Christ as a friend and brother; and felt knowledge (sentir) – knowing Christ through our senses and imagination. For Ignatius, this felt knowledge is what allows us to connect with Jesus in a deeper way, and to love him more deeply.

Dear Friends,

Last Sunday – Laetare (“Rejoice Sunday”) was our lenten break given by the church to help remind us that no matter what our practices of prayer and penance are these 40 days and, even as we contemplate the Suffering and Death of Jesus Himself, we know there is Light at the end of the penitential tunnel: the triumphant Resurrection of Christ, Our Savior!

Dear Friends in Christ,

Most Jesuits make a fourth vow "to go anywhere in the world at a moment’s notice for the good of the mission of the Church." My fourth vow has blessed me with a global adventure from the Arctic to the Argentine; from the Pyramids of Teotihuacán to the Pyramids of Giza; from the Great Wall to the Wailing Wall; from the Yukon to the Mekong to the Amazon. What a wonderful, colorful, adventurous ride in the service of the Gospel of Love and Justice!

Today’s Gospel, about Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well, reminds us that God’s love, compassion and mercy are offered to everyone! In the story, Jesus meets a woman from Samaria, someone with whom the Jews would not usually associate, and engages her in conversation about a drink of water. Jesus knows that she carries a lot of sinful baggage and offers her "a spring of water welling up to eternal life." The woman begins to realize who Jesus is, and gratefully accepts His gift of water and eternal salvation.