Hello, I hope your week is going well.

We all have experienced a death in our families or among our friends. And as we get older, this thing death, seems to visit a lot more.

But as believing Christians, we are called to believe that our loved ones are now with the Lord and are at peace in the Heavenly Kingdom. So what is the fear, the pain we experience when we hear of the death of someone we love?

Our faith holds out the truth that our loved ones are with the Lord. The pain and grief we experience comes from the fact of SEPARATION. We know that we now must live the rest of our lives without this special person and that is where the pain and grief comes from..

The famous preacher Billy Graham reminds us today “The resurrection of Christ changed the midnight of bereavement into a sunrise of reunion.” The sunrise of reunion. What a moment that will be. Being united with all those who have gone before us will welcome us to this new and unending life.

As I often said to those who mourn the death of a loved one, as we put up black bunting in our mourning, our loved ones are handing sighs of WELCOME HOME.

This is the Joy of the Easter season. We once thought life would come to the end in death, Easter Joy says to us, “Not so, life has changed, not ended.

Peace and All Good,

Fr Vinnie, fcm and the

Bros and Srs of the

Franciscan House of Prayer.