We are the Easter People

and Hallelujah is our song -- St. Pope John Paul II

ST. JOSEPH and HOLY TRINITY CATHOLIC PARISHES are a welcoming Catholic community, alive in Christ, living out His message in love and service to everyone. St. Joseph Church is at 500 N. Mesa Verde Avenue in Aztec, New Mexico 87410. Holy Trinity Church is at 42 Road 3520, Flora Vista, New Mexico 87415 Click here for MAP. Our parish office is at Father Owen Center, across the street from St. Joseph Church, at 424 N. Mesa Verde in Aztec, New Mexico 87410.

Leave It in the Tomb

Today, on the most important day of the liturgical year, the Apostle Paul is calling us out.

“I see you hiding in that tomb,” he says. “I see you baking with that old, stale yeast, thinking no one will notice.”

He says it a little more elegantly, I’ll grant you. But the message is this: If you want to be raised with Christ, you’d better be ready to step out of the shadows. Seek what is above — not what is on earth.

I can feel myself responding almost reflexively, “Great idea, Paul — but I’m pretty comfy here.” Because sometimes, it’s just easier to stay in the tomb. It’s easier to crouch in the shadows and look outward at everyone else, thinking of the changes they could make or the sins they could overcome.

Today we are called to embrace newness. New hearts, new lives, new futures, new chances. If there’s anything keeping you from that, you need to leave it in the tomb. It’s a little scary, sure — maybe Jesus thought so before he stepped into the light of that first Easter morning. But no loaf of bread worth eating was ever baked using stale yeast that wouldn’t rise. No new life worth having was ever lived through the broken sins of yesterday. No Easter morning ever dawned without the tomb sitting empty.

Step into the light. He is waiting for you.

— Tracy Earl Welliver, MTS ©LPi

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The Churches of St. Joseph in Aztec, and Holy Trinity in Flora Vista, belong to the Catholic Diocese of Gallup in New Mexico, U.S.A. Click the green Diocese crest below to go to the Diocese of Gallup website.