April 1, 2004

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

The coming change from the snow and cold of winter to the warmth of spring, along with the budding forth of trees and shrubs and the greening of the thawed earth, reminds us of that higher and wondrous change wrought by the life, death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He came among us as one sent by the Father to deliver us from the dark and dreary life of slaves to sin, restoring to us that true life of light, grace and glory which He meant us to have.

The Easter season signifies our appreciation of this great gift of God to us and celebrates the supreme act of His compassion and love for us. We intend this season to be an expression of our thanks to and our joy in the Lord Jesus our Savior for the profound action of His love and mercy to us His creatures and His children. Aware of this we may rightly exclaim with St. Augustine: "A Christian is an Allelluia from head to foot."

Yours sincerely,

Michael Lapierre, S.J.

* Fr. Michael Lapierre, S.J., and the editor John Cheng and assistant editor Tony Ercolani are currently taking part in this monthly column. While the latter (John and Tony) is writing in January, March, and May, etc., the former is doing so in February, April and June, etc. As usual, we take July and August as our summer holidays. The background hymn is a version of "Immaculate Mary". Thank you.

** Let us pray for the conversion of many so that Jesus would be truly pleased.