My Friends,
     Because of Easter with the Lord rising from the dead out of love for us, we live in the light.  The light that is ours from Christ dispels the darkness of this virus we are facing; this light gives us hope, joy and peace, confident that nothing can take us down as long as we trust in Christ Jesus.  This Jesus is the light of the world; those who put their trust in Him and follow Him need not fear.  This is His promise to you and me.  May God be praised for all He does out of love for us!
     Praying for your continued health.
     God Bless,
     Father John

     The entire season of Lent that we celebrated and ended a few weeks ago dealt with darkness.  It dealt with the prophets telling people to repent for the darkness of sin.  The color of Lent, purple, is a penitential color, reminding you and me that change is important for our life with Christ.
     This Gospel has Jesus not just speaking but crying out to the people, telling them that He came into the world as Light so that mankind would not remain in darkness.  Christ tells us believing in Him brings about the light that can illuminate our minds and hearts and set us free.  Jesus goes on to tell us that He is speaking the words that His Father commanded Him to speak.
    The theme of darkness and light is a common one in life in general.  Winter is darkness; spring is light.  You and I have been blessed by God and called through Baptism to live in the Light that is Christ.  We’re called to a life filled with hope, joy and peace.  We’re called to live life to its fullest- to love, to forgive, to be merciful, to be compassionate.  In essence, we are called to be Christ to one another.  
     Christ sacrificed so much out of love for us and He calls us to do the same for our brothers and sisters.  It’s certainly not an easy thing for any of us to do.  But maybe if we concentrated  and focused our efforts on one person in our life, then we could more easily accomplish what Christ intended for us.  Focus on  helping one person who may need us. One person who may need us to listen to them, to do something for them, to bring a bit of Christ’s light and life into their lives.  If we take one person at a time, the task of spreading the Gospel of Christ would not seem too overwhelming.
     Like the people in our first reading today who were sent forth with God’s Holy Spirit, the  Lord gives us that same Spirit to guide and direct us.  
May we make good use of God’s Holy Spirit so that more people may experience the joy, peace and hope that the Risen Christ brings.