Kindle Hope – It is Easter

(Special to Courrier Laval weekly News) As the Gregorian Chant on Radio Ville-Marie touches the chords of our soul, God becomes alive!

Easter again! The Resurrection of Christ. Death is conquered and the gates of heaven are opened to us.

It is interesting how God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit relate to us as family from eternity into our times.

It is no less interesting but very disconcerting how we have twisted our times into the turmoil of war, family discord, and disrespect for the environment.

Yet we have been given signs of hope – John Paul II, the birth of a child whose trust and simplicity can pull our heartstrings.

It is within our own human family that we must resurrect peace each day to prayerfully communicate with the Divine Family.

As much as God the Father has decorated our Earth with fresh air, trees and water, we seem determined to ignore the balance of this creation.

We need to gather our lives into the Resurrection and kindle a rebirth of attitude called respect, a new and correct way of looking at life.

As Christians we remove religion from our schools, a planned death and crucifixion of the Divine Family along with the human family?

If the respect for God goes from our ways, so does the respect for His creation – and so air is polluted, animals are destroyed, fish are denied clean water, and the gadgets we manufacture become sacraments as we fail to communicate with each other.

Once Adam and Eve shattered the beauty of the Garden that flowed from Creation, they went and hid in the darkness of the shade of the trees.

Yet God so love the world that he sent His only Son to repair the damage of original sin, and so the Death and Resurrection of Jesus.

And yet what counts now is how we capture and express that rebirth; how Jesus comes alive in us with the Grace of Holy Spirit guiding our hearts (and so Pentecost).

Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and life, without me you can do nothing." And so the invitation to reflect and live Peace, Love, and Respect.

In our daily lives, resurrection is needed again and again. It was offered to us by Jesus some 2000 years ago, to be reborn as often as need be.

St. Paul tells us, "Pay close attention to how you live, the times are difficult." Pay close attention to the Creation God has given us. Pay close attention to the Divine Family. Talk with God the Father. Dialogue with the Son as your Brother and meditate with the Holy Spirit as your Companion of Love.

Pay close attention to your earthly family. Practice spiritual vigilance as Father, Mother, and Child, for the family that prays together stays together.

If God-centered and spiritually-attuned, our schools and public places will become sanctuaries of encouragement to share good manners – the essence of love.

Jesus taught us to pray with 'The Our Father' … Allow a small poetic license: