Attached is Anthony Cardinal Bevilacqua's Easter Message to be communicated to the people of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia the weekend of April 3- 4th, 1999. Please feel free to quote from the letter or to print it in its entirety.

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Easter, 1999


Dear Brothers an Sisters in Christ:

"Death, where is your victory? Death, where is your sting?" (1 Cor 15:55) St. Paul expresses for all of us the Church's deep faith and hope in Christ's triumph over sin and death.

On Ash Wednesday we recommitted ourselves to prayer, fasting and almsgiving as preparation for the celebration of the Paschal Mystery. Ever more attentive to Sacred Scripture and prayer, we have prepared ourselves by acts of penance for the renewal of our baptismal promises at the Easter Vigil. Hopefully we are now even more committed to serve Christ as His disciples as a result of our Lenten desert experience. We have learned that our death to self is life with Christ.

Easter morning dawns with particular brilliance as we anticipate the third millennium of Christianity. We celebrate our reconciliation with the Father and one another which is made possible by Christ's Passion, Death and Resurrection. In the joy of this Good News, we devote ourselves more zealously to our mission of evangelization expressed by the theme of our Archdiocesan Renewal: Live the Father's Love.

Christ invites us to live the Father's love so that the world may come to believe. Therefore, others must see that we walk in the light of the risen Christ with the certain hope that He has triumphed over darkness, sin and death. We must find our joy in loving obedience to the Lord's will and reflect our deep trust in God's power to heal and save us with the conviction that we share in His glory now and forever. This is the Good News we must bring to others in this Easter season and always.

May Our Risen Lord bless you and fill you with the gift of His peace.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Anthony Cardinal Bevilacqua

Archbishop of Philadelphia

Contact
Marie Kelly
Associate Director
215-587-3747