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We are an Easter People

Since the beginning, VOTF has been an Easter movement and we must continue to ground ourselves in the Paschal Mystery that is the heart of our faith. Those of us in Voice of the Faithful know that we are people of faith; we know that ours is a most genuine movement of the Spirit. As we leave the days of Lent and enter into the blessings and understandings of Holy Week and Easter, we find our hearts and minds full of the journey begun three years ago and the journey ahead for VOTF. For we have learned hard truths, living with despair yet living with joy because we live in the hope that is Jesus Christ… our Light, our Truth, and our Way.

Ours is the Paschal Mystery that is celebrated at every Eucharist and in a very special way at Easter. There is no understanding the life of Jesus Christ, without understanding the passion and death of Jesus Christ, without understanding the triumph and glory of his Resurrection. How could we endure the death on the cross without the knowledge of the Resurrection? What value the journey without being grounded in the ultimate Truth? How could we continue to face the horrors of the scandal of clergy sexual abuse and cover-up without the companionship of the Christ we find in each other within VOTF? How could we continue to believe that We are the Church, We are the People of God? We remain faithful to the truth, which is Jesus Christ, and therefore we can remain faithful to our mission and to the prophets and martyrs of this movement, the victim/survivors whose courage lifts us up always.

We are an Easter people. VOTF is an Easter movement. In the truth and reality of every day, there are moments of the journey and life, the passion and death, the resurrection and the truth. Sometimes it seems that the days and weeks are only about the journey, or are only about the passion and death. But, in faith, we know that we are grounded in the great hope of transformation and new life. That is why we go forward. That is why we are led forward.

In the Gospel reading from Luke on Holy Saturday, we find ourselves one more time at the empty tomb. We join with the women who first experience the truth of Christ’s life and death. With Mary Magdalene, Joanna and Mary, the mother of James, we are terrified by the truth of that empty tomb; we bow our faces to the ground. Yet, they and we “remember his words.” And because we remember, and because we are confronted with the empty tomb, we go forth as witnesses to the Resurrection and to the Truth. How many times have we heard this Gospel? Yet, we always bring a new self and a new life lived to the living word of the gospel. These women go forth in the Truth to tell the others the good news to share their experience with the apostles. “But their story seemed like nonsense and they did not believe them.” (Luke 24:1-12) Why do we in VOTF continue to be surprised that the truth of our experience of God’s action and presence is not always understood, is not accepted by those who are our brothers and sisters in Christ, those who are bound to us most closely?

We are an Easter people. VOTF is an Easter movement. May the blessings and wisdom of this holiest season strengthen us for the journey; may the hope and truth of the Risen Christ sustain and accompany us. May the joy of the Resurrection enter the hearts of all who suffer; may it enlighten us all as we go forward.
Susan S. Troy, M. Div., VOTF Prayerful Voice

 

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In the Vineyard
April 2004
Volume 3, Issue 4

Page One

Council Updates

Prayer of the Month

Survivor Support Working Group

Prayerful Voice Working Group

Support Priest Working Group

Structural Change Working Group

Protecting Our Children Working Group

Parish Voice News

Letters to the Editor

Commentary - Language Matters

Reading Options

Events, Opportunities & News

Printer Friendly Version

In the Vineyard Archives

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