Dear Friends in Christ,

During the Season of Easter we remember that the Church owes its birth to the dead and risen Jesus Christ, the Lord victorious, who lives and rises among us still. From the grace of the Sacraments, by which means God enters our souls, our community is enriched by the rising life of the Holy Spirit. At every Baptism, a soul rises from the death of no faith, to put on the living garment of salvation. At every Confirmation, hearts are filled with the zeal of the Spirit, and new waves of creative energy ripple throughout the Church. At every Eucharist, we share the Body and Blood of Christ sacrificed, and go forth, refreshed and filled with new vitality. These holy rites, our Sacraments, give us life, because through them, Christ rises to life within us. At these moments, Jesus greets us as He greeted those who first saw Him alive after death. He offers us peace and invites us to enter into His risen life. He entreats us to bring His risen life to bear on every moment of our own lives. And He commands us to carry the news of salvation out into the world, so that everyone might hear the Good News, and come to know the hope of heaven.

During this time, and for all our lives, let us come to the Church, to the Sacraments, to the love of God in Christ which lives among us, so that we may thrive to do the holy work, the holy enterprise that is our Christian Faith and our Catholic heritage.

"And may the God of peace, who brought again from the dead the great pastor of the sheep, our Lord Jesus Christ, in the blood of the everlasting testament, make you perfect in every good work, that you may do his will: working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ: to whom is glory for ever and ever! Amen."

A Happy Easter and a Blessed Spring and Summer to all.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Most Reverend John F. Donoghue

Archbishop of Atlanta