My dear sisters and brothers in Christ,

This [coming] week, we enter into the holiest of holy days of our church year — the Easter triduum, or "three days" — beginning with the celebration of the Mass of the Lord's Supper on Holy Thursday, progressing through the Good Friday celebration of the Lord's passion and culminating in the Easter Vigil, the celebration of the great paschal mystery. Translated into today's terms, this means that we are celebrating the suffering, death and resurrection of Christ.

Our participation in these mysteries renews and affirms our faith in Jesus, who came to bear our burdens and share in our human suffering and weakness; and through his death and resurrection, to overcome sin once for all and open the floodgates of heaven for all who seek the grace and mercy of God. It is in our celebrations and remembrances of this Holy Week that we recognize that through his sacrifice, Jesus won for us a rightful place in God's kingdom as his sons and daughters.

I encourage all who are able not to miss this opportunity to encounter, during this week, the suffering Christ, so that we may find greater meaning in our own trials and times of suffering. Most importantly, though, we have the opportunity to glimpse our ultimate triumph with him, rising above human limitations and travails in the loving and eternal embrace of God the Father.

I pray that each of you receives in these holy days an abundance of God's grace, and experiences a joyful Easter.

Sincerely yours in the Lord,

John H. Ricard, SSJ
Bishop of Pensacola-Tallahassee