Dear Friends,

Let us not keep our eyes fixed, gazing on the so many crosses erected around us. They are real, cruel, destructive, demeaning... In the country where I live for more than twelve years, these crosses are called misery, exploitation, exclusion, drugs, violence and murders, corruption... They destroy people, families and the society. Universally speaking, they have names such wars, exclusions, betrayals, illnesses and sufferings, jealousy, closure of heart, lack of simplicity, greed for power, and lack of compassion... Personally speaking, they too are my mistakes, my misjudgments, my faults and my sins that often God alone knows.

Raise the signs of life and of resurrection!

The strength of life already penetrates the darkness. It awakens love and self-giving... for those who accept to see and to be transformed. Together, let us also look, share and support the signs of life and resurrection around us. Here are some of them manifested in my daily life in the Philippines:

O God, who on this day, through your Only Begotten Son, have conquered death and unlocked for us the path to eternity, grant, we pray, that we who keep the solemnity of the Lord's Resurrection may, through the renewal brought by your Spirit, rise up in the light of life.

Christ became obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross. Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every other name.                                   Verse Before the Gospel

"This is the Body that will be given up for you;
this is the Chalice of the new covenant in my blood, says the Lord;
do this, whenever you receive it, in memory of me."
(1 Corinthians 11:24-25) Communion Antiphon