Parish Life

A message from The Rev. Deacon Nancy O’Shea

Working our way to Paradise 

This month, we conclude the Lenten season, enter Holy Week, and arrive at the glorious Queen of Feasts, the Resurrection of our Lord, on Easter.

Each one of us has had a unique experience during these 40 days.  

Hopefully, we will have used this time to benefit our souls as well as our bodies,

if we have given up some favorite foods or taken on a new spiritual discipline during this time. (“And here we offer and present unto thee, O Lord, our selves. our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy and living sacrifice unto thee…”(  Holy Eucharist, Rite One)

On the cross, Jesus comforted his fellow sufferer with these words: “Truly, I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”  (Luke 23:43 NRSV)  We, too are promised this, as we strive to live our lives in obedience to Jesus’ command (“Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” BCP p. 324) It is not always easy to do this, as people who have different opinions can tend to annoy or anger us, We often do not have the patience to deal with them, and issues go unresolved and turn into grudges we may hold onto for a long time.  This is a soul destroying habit which, with God’s help, we can overcome. 

As Easter people, we have witnessed, through Scripture, Jesus walking the Way of the Cross, his trial, execution, death and burial.  We know how this part of thestory ends, we rejoice in the empty tomb and the appearance of the resurrected Christ to his disciples.  

We are his modern day disciples, living our Christian lives day by day, with the assurance that we, too, will be with Jesus in Paradise.  The journey is not always a smooth one, with pitfalls where we least expect them, but we know that our companion on that road of life is our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Alleluia!   Alleluia!  Alleluia!

Nancy