EASTER MESSAGE 2025

Dear Brothers and Sisters, 

We usually say, ‘after the storm comes the sun’.   However, when our struggles and trials come in bundles, we begin to doubt whether the good times, or the better times will indeed come.  

Yet today we proclaim: Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!  Jesus is Risen!  Jesus is alive!

Today, and in the whole Easter Season, it is not only the rising of the sun that we celebrate, but the return of Life.  What could have been an eternal doom, was destroyed by the new life which comes from Jesus, our Savior, who resurrected from the dead.

The veil of sin and the cloud of darkness have been dispelled by Jesus. The Resurrection of Jesus brings us Peace and Hope.  

Yet while pain, suffering, blood and death were evident and palpable during Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Black Saturday, the Resurrection and the Peace and Hope it brings on Easter Sunday seem to elude the senses.  

It is our eyes of faith and hearts filled with hope that recognize the Resurrected Jesus in our midst.  As Pope Francis says, ‘Easter does not happen through our initiative, but comes from Christ’, who in his great love and mercy redeemed us from sin and death. Jesus by shedding his blood and giving up his life, regained the gift of life for us and opened the doors of heaven for us, sinners.

The light shines forth and bursts the cloud of evil and darkness. Once again, we who walk in darkness, see a great light. This was our experience when Jesus, the Son of God, became man.  And the human body, which he took in humility, became the offering and expiation for our sins.  

We have been redeemed! With Easter, the Father welcomes us by the door, calling us:  “Come and enter!  Share the feast which I have prepared for you.”

Brothers and Sisters, death is not the last word, nor is evil. There is always another chance. There is forgiveness after repentance. There is rest after all the struggles and pains. There is light after doubt. There is consolation after the fears and the hurts.  There is victory after defeat. There is truth after all the lies. There is good after evil.  There is life after death. There is joy and  peace!  

Life, goodness, truth, salvation, beauty, peace, and joy –these are what we hope for. And hope does not disappoint, because God has proven his love for us.  For who can separate us from the love of God? Nothing. As St. Paul proclaims in his letter to the Romans, in chapter 8:

(For) I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.  (Romans 8:37-39)

Brothers and Sisters:  Alleluia!  Alleluia! Alleluia!  Jesus is Risen!  Let us all continue our journey of hope. For Jesus Christ our Lord, is Alive!   

Happy Easter to all of you!

Most Rev. Rex Andrew Alarcon, D.D.

Archbishop of Caceres