Dear Friends in Christ,

On this Third Sunday of Easter, Christ reveals Himself to us as our Advocate with the Father who alone can bring peace to our troubled hearts.  Christ offers to us peace which this world cannot bring.    

"Peace be with you." Our Risen Lord stands in our midst, bringing peace to our terrified hearts, fearful and filled with uncertainties caused by the pandemic.  How much He desires to calm the storms in our hearts through His life-giving promises in Scriptures and as He comes to us, real and alive in the Most Blessed Sacrament.  God's saving act and gift of true peace is celebrated, as Christ, our Bread of Life is broken and shared at each Eucharistic Sacrifice of the Mass. 

"Peace be with you." Our Risen Lord longs for us to break free from our sin, guilt, failure and disappointment.  He desires to fill us with His peace as we humble ourselves and repent of our sins, reconcile with Him and with one another in Confession.   How His light will come to shine through our darkness, unburdening us from the weight of our sins, granting pardon for all our denial of His bountiful mercies, bestowing absolution of our sins of disbelief in the power of His resurrected love in our lives and in the lives of those entombed in despair, rebelliousness and disobedience.

Let God's Spirit open the door of our hearts to our Risen Savior who alone can revive us and make us fully alive. Let us immerse our sufferings and trials in His pierced hands and feet, and allow the Risen Christ to transform our hands into His Hands that extend help, healing and compassion to others.  Let our glorified Risen Lord lift our feet to go and witness to our brothers and sisters who thirst for His Gospel of salvation and peace.  

A Spirit-renewed and safe week ahead, dear friends!

Peace and blessings in Christ, 

Rev. Jonathan Paala

And Jesus said to them,
“Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer
and rise from the dead on the third day
and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins,
would be preached in his name
to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
You are witnesses of these things.”  (Luke 24:46-47)