We are very happy to share with all of you the Easter Letter written by the General Superior, Sr. Veronica Fuhrmann.
Christ
is gloriously risen from death.
His light
drives away the darkness of hearts.
From the Easter Liturgy
Easter 2023
Dear companions in the Lord!
These words from the liturgy of the Easter Vigil provide a condensed summary of what has happened and continues to happen in our lives on Easter. The light, a symbol of the resurrection, finally conquers the darkness of the tomb, illuminates every night. It wants to reach the darkest corner of our heart and our world and proclaim that darkness and death do not have the last word. In the light of the resurrection we find new orientation, we may experience ourselves as redeemed and liberated from the fear of meaninglessness, lostness and death; redeemed and liberated to the joy of a new life given to us. We are “born again so that we may have a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Pet 1:3).
The resurrection of Jesus is God’s unconditional Yes to us human beings. He has not abandoned man, He has not abandoned us, He has given us a new future, a new promise, a new life. Since the resurrection, encounter with the living Jesus is possible in every place and at every time.
The light, the life that triumphs over darkness and death, not only gives us a new perspective on our own lives, but also enables us to look at our present and our world differently.
God does not spare us suffering, darkness and the grave, but in Christ the darkness becomes a passage to new life and we are filled with a hope that is stronger than all despair – even if it sometimes seems to be a fragile hope and we feel powerlessness in the face of the abundance of suffering on our earth. God leads us out of the darkness and horror of Good Friday, out of the silent and stunned mourning of Holy Saturday, into the bright morning of Easter jubilation.
In the Easter texts, all encounters with the Risen One culminate in mission. Like the disciples, Jesus tells us: “Go to all nations and make all people my disciples” (Mt 28:19). Jesus wants us to take the message of salvation to the world. Joy and hope must and want to be communicated, and those who have truly encountered the risen Lord cannot help but testify to this experience through their lives and pass it on.
Easter can be an occasion to ask ourselves whether our lives give others a credible answer to the question of hope. Are we living and spreading the hope and joy that can dissolve numbness and overcome discouragement? Can others experience Easter through our lives?
Let us allow ourselves to be addressed and touched anew by the Risen One, and let us become truly Easter people in the many darknesses of our time, “super-spreaders” of light, hope and joy, for in Christ life has triumphed over death!
I wish you all a happy and blessed Easter and greet you from the bottom of my heart,
Veronica Fuhrmann CJ
