Easter Letter- Sr. Denise Roche, GNSH President

Written on: April 5, 2023

April 5, 2023

Dear Friends,
Easter Greetings!
Most of us have had the experience of having someone we love die. We know the sense of profound emptiness and confusion when we first recognize that our loved one is gone. It may have been expected or it may have been sudden, but the sense of bewilderment seems to be the same. We wonder how the world can continue to go on without that person. Certainly, we know that our life will never be the same and may never return to the joyful routine that it has taken for granted for so long.

For the first few days we are dazed, feeling somewhat suspended, as we share the news, make funeral arrangements, answer phone calls and messages, attend to details and participate in funeral rituals.

The day comes, however, when all that busyness subsides and we are left with a deep sense of sorrow and grief and we feel all alone in our suffering. Do you remember thinking, “how can anything be important, normal? How can I rise in the morning and look forward to the day? How can food have any appeal? How can anyone think that routine chores are important? How can anyone else get entangled in daily activity? Don’t they realize that the world has changed?”

Imagine, if you were at that place of deepest loneliness and anguish, and suddenly, you heard your beloved, who had died, call your name, gently, lovingly.

What a rush of emotion we would feel!

We, too, like Mary Magdalene, would run to embrace the one whom we thought we had lost and who had left a huge vacancy in our heart.
How could this be? How long will it last? What should I do?

At this very sacred and precious time of year, as we celebrate Jesus’ resurrection, we are called to remember that we are never left alone, that in good times and in challenging times, God is present and will see us through the darkness. God is always calling us, gently, lovingly, by our name.

As I reflect on scripture during this special season, I am mindful of how many of you, our sisters, friends, colleagues, allies have suffered through difficult times during these last months.

It is so easy to believe when our belief is not challenged.
How hard it is to see the light that faith gives when everything around us seems to be turning dark.

My prayer for us all this Easter is that we can experience the joy and surprise which Mary Magdalene felt when she heard her name called so lovingly by the Risen Jesus. Can anything be more comforting and healing than that?

Let us rejoice wholeheartedly this Easter, convinced that God’s love and mercy inform every moment of our lives, every weakness we endure, every experience of letting go, and all the many miracles that surround us!

Through it all God supports us and calls us by our name! Alleluia!

My prayer for us all this Easter is that we can experience the joy and surprise which Mary Magdalene felt when she heard her name called so lovingly by the Risen Jesus. Can anything be more comforting and healing than that?

Let us rejoice wholeheartedly this Easter, convinced that God’s love and mercy inform every moment of our lives, every weakness we endure, every experience of letting go, and all the many miracles that surround us!

Through it all God supports us and calls us by our name! Alleluia!

Lovingly,

Sister Denise Roche, GNSH President

This entry was posted in From our Sisters and tagged: Alleluia!, Beloved, busyness, comforting, Easter, Faith, God, healing, joy, light, love, Mary Magdalene, Mercy, Prayer, Rejoice, Risen Jesus, scripture, surprise