My Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Christ is Risen! He is truly Risen!

One of my greatest joys as a priest is when people come into the confessional and start off with, "Bless me father it has been ten (or twenty or thirty) years since my last confession." It is a joy for me because in the Sacrament I get to hear about what God has been doing in pursuing this person. Usually it's not just one thing that has brought them back. Unlike St. Paul, most of us don't get knocked off our horse so suddenly and violently. For most people what brings them back is the convergence of many things, of many little hints, and clues that God has put in front of them to draw them back.

A conversation here, a chance encounter with an old friend there, something they heard on the radio, or something they saw while flipping through the channels. But eventually the evidence mounts and becomes undeniable that God wants them back near Him.

It is nice that we want meaning in our lives, it is good that we want something more from life, its even great that we recognize that we are unfulfilled -- but it is beyond anything we could have hoped to recognize that God has been pursuing us.

This week at the Chrism Mass, Pope Benedict said this:

It is not only we who seek God:  God himself is searching for us. The fact that he himself was made man and came down in the depths of human existence, even into the darkness of death, shows us how much God loves his creature, man. Driven by love, God has set out towards us. "Seeking me, you sat down weary... let such labour not be in vain!" we pray in the "Dies Irae." God is searching for me. Do I want to recognize him? Do I want to be known by him, found by him? God loves us. He comes to meet the unrest of our hearts, the unrest of our questioning and seeking, with the unrest of his own heart, which leads him to accomplish the ultimate for us. That restlessness for God, that journeying towards him, so as to know and love him better, must not be extinguished in us.

In the Church and in the Sacraments we have the opportunity to really encounter the living God who has sought us out and whose Sacred Heart has burned with love for us.

You are all very welcome here at Our Lady Star of the Sea!

May this Easter be a time of great joy, peace and comfort for you as we celebrate the Lord's Resurrection!

In Christ,

Fr. Derek Lappe