April 20, 2025

Dear Parishioners,

When I was a child we had a pet hermit crab for a time. His name was Hermie. I’ll never forget Hermie. I pray he’s enjoying the fruits of Jesus’ resurrection: the splendor of heaven. God bless you Hermie!

Okay, I’m being a little wry. Apologies. But we did have a hermit crab growing up and his name was indeed Hermie. That’s about all I remember.

Well, for some odd reason, Hermie came to my mind as I was praying about the resurrection. I was thinking about how our hearts have been expanding (hopefully) during this Lenten season; that our love has deepened and expanded so much that we need almost a new heart to contain it. A hermit crab outgrows its shell and moves into a newer, larger and more beautiful one. I do actually remember seeing the newer shell sitting in the cage and Hermie boldly evacuating his old shell, scampering across the floor exposed, and moving into his new home. It is my prayer that we, like Hermie, today are moving into our new hearts.

The Resurrection of Jesus was something new. He came back to life, but it wasn’t exactly the same life and body he had before. That would be more of a resuscitation. He didn’t leave the old shell just to return to it. When Jesus came back from the dead, he didn’t live the same way and didn’t go back to his old routine. The ministry of walking around the countryside, preaching and healing, was over. He was unrecognizable to most people, including his own apostles. He didn’t remain physically with the apostles either — he no longer stayed in different homes, went off early in the morning to deserted places to pray, and so on, as he had during the three years before the crucifixion. He was now in between heaven and earth. He would appear to the apostles for a brief time and then vanish. Where to? Presumably to heaven, but maybe not. Maybe he was staying wherever Mary was in some room in Jerusalem. Or maybe he was visiting different peoples across the globe–the natives in undiscovered America, the people in Africa and the far East, etc. Maybe he was traveling across time. Who knows.

The point is that the resurrection isn’t just a return. The resurrection is an advance, a move into something new. I think we struggle with “the new” in our society today. So many movies are sequels or remakes or variations on the same theme. Trends, movements, and ideologies are actually not creative, but repetitions of old behaviors (and old heresies). We are afraid of venturing into the unknown, afraid of not having total control. That twelve inch journey that Hermie made across the floor of the cage to a new shell feels like 12 million miles for us.

Christ and the Church is the way to something new. You might disagree. The Church is a 2,000 year old institution built on tradition, you would say. Yes, we are built on tradition, but we need the tradition and the custom to facilitate the new movement. And the new movement that occurs is in our hearts. Living a life in union with the Church does lead to the resurrection of our heart. We are able to, because of our prayer lives and moral lives, love in ways we had never even dreamt of. We are able to experience a kind of beauty we had never imagined.

I am a witness to this. The love my heart feels for you is something so great, so much more than what I expected to experience as a priest. I can see the old, smaller shells of my previous heart left behind. Sure, I loved great once, but I love now even greater. And there’s more for me to love. I don’t say this to brag, but only to show that’s possible. If it’s possible for me, who I would call a pretty mediocre lover at best, then it’s certainly possible for you. Only the faith and the Church has made this happen. I don’t credit anything else.

Christ has risen from the dead and placed your new heart a few feet from you. In fact, you could say it’s at the altar at Mass. When you walk down the aisle for communion on Easter Sunday, may you move into your new heart and love with the heart of Christ. And may you keep moving into those new hearts that Jesus places down in front of you.

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A happy Easter to all of you. On behalf of Fr. Nick and the entire staff at SPC, blessings to you and your families. Thank you for your support of our parish.

A special thank you to all those who put in much hard work to make the Triduum a beautiful and special celebration: the musicians, the sacristans, Deacon Andy and Deacon Bob for planning the liturgies, the altar servers, the ushers, the church and gym decorators, the Boy Scouts for the Easter Vigil fire, the Knights of Columbus for the Holy Thursday and Good Friday honor guard, and Beshar Bahjat and his OCIA team.

Speaking of OCIA, congratulations and welcome to all of our candidates and catechumens who were baptized and confirmed and entered into the Church at the Easter Vigil Saturday night. We are very proud of you, and may your life in the Church be a blessed one.

Next Sunday, April 27th, we will have a Divine Mercy Prayer Service at 3 p.m. in the upper church.

Yours in Christ,

Fr. James Wallace