Quote of the Day

“Describing the Catholic Church, James Joyce once said, 'Here comes everybody.'

Yes. That says it.

Here comes Peter, the denier and Thomas the doubter, and the converted pagan Augustine. Here comes the soldier Ignatius, and the scholar Aquinas, and the tentmaker Paul. Here comes Catherine of Sienna and Therese of Lisieux. Here comes Francis, preaching to the birds.

We are all that and more. We are monks who copied scripture onto parchment, and preserved God’s word. We are priests and nuns who could barely speak the language, but came to an unruly place called America and created the most extensive parochial school system on earth, passing on what they knew, and what they believed.

We are laborers from Italy and Poland and Germany who arrived in Brooklyn with nothing, and left behind towering temples of stone and glass in what we call a City of Churches.

We are Chesterton and Merton and Hopkins. We are Bob Hope and Newt Gingrich, John Wayne and Oscar Wilde, Tony Blair and Fulton Sheen.

We are Oscar Romero and Bobby Kennedy and Caeser Chavez and Mother Angelica.

We are the soldier in Iraq praying the rosary, and the immigrant in the barrio with Our Lady of Guadalupe tattooed on his back.

We are Fr. Mike Dalton, in a jeep in Germany, hearing one last confession.

We are Rosa and Richard, about to be baptized here tonight. We are Amanda and Lydia and Ana and Justine and Carmen, about to be confirmed.

We are saints. We are sinners. We are everybody.

We are the Body of Christ. Bruised. Broken. But resurrected and given new life, new hope. Changed forever....

We are people who live in the resurrection. We are men and women and children who hold the light.

This Easter, keep the flame burning. Remember all who came before us, and all who are joining us today – by one count, some 150-thousand in the United States alone.

150-thousand more people to hold the candle, and to spread the light, and to proclaim not just the good news – but the greatest news in all human history:

'He has been raised.'

Alleluia!”

--Deacon Greg Kandra
Easter Vigil Homily
Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Church
Forest Hills, Queens
Easter Night 2009

* * *

*Looks up*

Parrillo, this one's for you....



Again, all wishes for a Blessed and Happy Easter to one and all!

PHOTOS: Reuters(1); AP(2,3); Getty(4)

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