Good Friday Reflection – Rabbi Marcia Zimmerman
“May G-d grant you the most precious gifts, the gifts of wholeness and the gifts of peace. May it be G-d’s will. Amen.” – Rabbi Marcia Zimmerman
Easter Vigil Homily – Fr. Daniel Griffith
“How do we respond to the truth of the risen Christ? The truth of the empty tomb? I would say Mary Magdalene shows us the way of how we respond. Mary Magdalene was this incredible companion of Christ, a woman of faith, a woman who had been restored by Jesus in her relationship, in opening herself up to His grace. And it’s fitting because she never left His side. Many of the men fled in fear. John and the women of Jerusalem stayed, and they walked that path of the cross with Jesus, they were there when He was crucified.
And Mary must have died a thousand deaths seeing her friend crucified. And so it’s fitting that she would be the first one to receive the news of the resurrection. That Jesus would encounter her on the way and would tell her, “Go and tell my disciples to meet me in Galilee, I have been raised.” She is referred to in the tradition as the Apostle to the Apostles. So how do we respond? We respond like Mary Magdalene: by believing, by abiding in Christ, and also by being witnesses to His resurrection, that He is alive.” – Fr. Daniel Griffith
Easter Homily – Archbishop Bernard Hebda
“Three days after Jesus was killed, he returned to his disciples physically and that made all the difference. Easter, then, is not a metaphor for new beginnings; it is about encountering the person who, despite every disappointment we experience with ourselves and with the world, gives us a reason to carry on.” – Archbishop Bernard Hebda, quoting Professor Esau McCaulley.