By Fr. Michael Kim
For The Cordova Times
Christ is risen! Christ is truly risen! When Christ was buried, the disciples lost all hope. You could say their hope was buried too. But, the news of the Resurrection took away all discouragement and hopelessness! The disciples had a living hope (1 Peter 1:3). Jesus rose again, defeating sin and death for all time. This brings us much hope. Though our lives are full of sorrow and pain, sickness and unwanted diagnoses, death and betrayal, Jesus brings us hope in the midst of the messiness of life.
In these difficult and suffering times we follow the ongoing stay-at-home order to slow the spread of the coronavirus. We do this, not out of fear, but out of love for our neighbors. This pandemic makes the current time dramatically different from any other in our lifetimes, no matter how old we are, but Easter remains what it has always been: A time to get in better touch with God’s hope for us.
This Easter also becomes a time to think about how we live as a community, protect each other from illness, and be part of the solution to a global health crisis. I am hopeful we would even bring about new and better ways of taking care of each other at our home, Cordova. Christ is risen! Jesus lives — that is the basis for the living hope of every person. With hope, I believe that we will gather and pray soon. I wish a happy Easter, filled with love, peace and hope.
Fr. Michael Kim is pastor for St. Joseph’s Catholic Church.
