CNS photo/Lola Gomez

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!  

It is with these words that I greet everyone at Easter. They are the words that Christians have exchanged from the earliest times when meeting one another on Easter Day. The greeting has always been one of great joy. Easter is the time of renewal in our pilgrimage through the year. We have arrived at the greatest celebration in the Christian calendar, after the intensity of the Lenten preparation. 

Our commitment to prayer, penance and fasting through Lent has been aimed at our own reorientation from selfishness and self-interest to a life lived with God. With such an experience, it is possible to greet our brothers and sisters in the faith with joy in our hearts, “Christ is risen!” because the power of Jesus, risen from the dead, has manifested itself in us. We feel as though we have been born again. Our joy will be the witness to others that something has changed for us and that we are living with new life.  

May our celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus transform us and renew us, and may we experience the peace and joy of the Risen Christ in our hearts and in our homes throughout this Easter season and beyond. 

Sincerely yours in Christ, Most Rev. Gregory J. Hartmayer, OFM Conv., Archbishop of Atlanta