Happy Easter 2010!

Put on Christ. Put on Christ.
Come to the waters of everlasting life.
Put on Christ. Put on Christ.
Walk in the freedom of the children of God.

- Lyrics from Put on Christ by Bob Hurd © Oregon Catholic Press.

For your reading pleasure on this joyous Easter Sunday, here is an account of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the New Testament.

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling clothing; and as the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, "Why do you seek the living One among the dead? He is not here, but He has risen. Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee, saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again."

And they remembered His words, and returned from the tomb and reported all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.

Now they were Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James; also the other women with them were telling these things to the apostles. But these words appeared to them as nonsense, and they would not believe them.

But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen wrappings only; and he went away to his home, marveling at what had happened.

- The Gospel of Luke, 24:1-12 (New American Standard Bible)

Like millions of other American households, the First Family journeyed to church this morning to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus. The President, First Lady Michelle Obama, their daughters Malia and Sasha, and Michelle Obama's mother Marian attended an 11 AM Easter liturgy at the African Methodist Episcopal Church in the District of Columbia. They stayed until 12:50, returning to the White House immediately thereafter, according to the pool report.

We were lucky enough at my parish to have our visiting Kenyan priest as the celebrant of our Easter Mass. He delivered an eloquent, graceful, and unconventional homily, which I'm excerpting for your enjoyment on In Brief.

If you're observing the holiday - perhaps spending time in the company of family and friends on this most glorious of Sundays - please accept best wishes from all of us at the Northwest Progressive Institute.