Beloved SCU Community:

In the midst of our world’s pain and violence, let us rejoice in this good news: Jesus Christ is RISEN! Alleluia! Just as God raised Jesus from death to life 2000 years ago, God’s love redeems us from death to life. 

Here’s how I make sense of the risen Christ and God’s promise now as we celebrate Easter in our turbulent times:  Human flourishing is rooted in gift.  That is, we flourish as a human community when we give away to each other the love and life we receive from God.

The Ignatian value of 'people for others' captures the truth that we foster human flourishing through love and service. Think of a parent’s love for a newborn, a partner-pilgrim who shares our journey, a friend’s steadfast witness to our struggles, or our broken hearts praying for war-torn communities a world away.  We become more fully human precisely when we make our lives a gift to others. Jesus, God-with-us, vouched for this truth in his ministry of healing and, finally, in his death when the power of his love threatened the human status quo.

Christ’s resurrection is God’s love in the Spirit renewing the world. The Risen Christ is God’s witness and the promise that our lives become joyful and flourishing when we give ourselves to others. Our shared mission, as a community of faith at SCU, is to live generously into the witness and promise of the resurrection. Giving ourselves away to others enables us to co-create with God a more just, humane, and sustainable world.

Along with our Christian sisters and brothers across the globe, SCU joins in the joyful celebration of God’s love in this Easter season. On Holy Thursday, we celebrate the Mass of the Lord’s Supper where we are called to share in Jesus' loving and humble service. The Good Friday Service commemorates self-sacrificial love of Jesus' passion and death on the cross outside the walls of Jerusalem. The Easter Vigil and the Mass of the Resurrection proclaim the new creation for this world–an unending community bound together in God’s spirit of love alive in Christ. Please join us in the Mission Church to proclaim:  Alleluia! Christ is risen indeed.

May the Holy Spirit bless you with new life in the Risen Christ!

Alison M. Benders
Vice President, Mission and Ministry

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