Bishop issues 2024 Easter message to Fall River Diocese, Southeastern Massachusetts, Cape Cod and the Islands

FALL RIVER — Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha, S.D.V., has issued an Easter Message to Catholics throughout the Fall River Diocese, which comprises Southeastern Massachusetts, Cape Cod and the Islands.

It follows below in its entirety:

Dear Friends in Christ,

Christ is Risen. Alleluia! At last, after preparing during six-weeks of Lent, we celebrate the joyous feast of Easter, the heart of our Christian faith. Our faith flows from our belief in the Resurrection. Christ’s victory over sin and death means new life for us all. Easter is the proof of God’s love for humanity and our assurance that God wants all of us to be raised up after our own death and to live with him forever.

We understand Easter as the passage from old to new; from darkness to light; and from suffering to joy. It is such a hope-filled and life-giving feast that we, the Church, celebrate Easter for not merely one day but for an entire 50-day season.

Let us not miss this opportunity to enjoy, celebrate, and be inspired by all the beautiful symbols and messages the Easter season offers us.

In my Lenten message, I proposed we offer our Lenten sacrifices for three special intentions to help us journey through the season with a more focused purpose. What if, for the Easter season, we continue to move forward in our faith practices with either the same or three new special intentions? For whom or for what intention can you continue to offer every prayer, every sacrifice, and every act of charity during the Easter Season in anticipation of the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost?

Did you experience a renewed energy in your prayer life over the last 40-plus days as you placed your attention on those things you most desire for your family, community, nation, or world? If you took my recommendation to write down your three most important intentions, go back to those now and reflect on where you saw God working in each intention. Then, write three new intentions to focus on for the next fifty days of Easter. Maybe it is the same three; whatever you choose, try to now spend time in prayer each day with the Lord, asking for His graces in each situation or circumstance.

This exercise is especially significant during this year dedicated to prayer, as Pope Francis calls the whole world to focus on prayer during this year in preparation for the Jubilee Years, 2025. The celebration of this year of prayer has as the theme: “TEACH US TO PRAY”.

“The Holy Father has repeatedly empha­sized that prayer is not just a devout practice, but rather is like the ‘breathing of the soul’; it is the expression of a deep and natu­ral need of every human being. Prayer, according to Pope Francis, is a true dialogue with God, a ‘face to face with Him’. (Living the Year of Prayer in Preparation for Jubilee 2025 pg. 17).

May our celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus transform us and renew us, and may we experience the peace and joy of the Risen Christ in our hearts and in our homes throughout this Easter season and beyond.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Edgar M. da Cunha

Bishop of Fall River