Message for Easter 20 April 2025

Message for Easter 20 April 2025

His Eminence Frank Cardinal Leo
Metropolitan Archbishop of Toronto

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,

May Jesus and Mary be in your souls.

The greatest liturgical celebration of the Church is of course Easter. The enthusiastic and traditional greeting on Easter morning and throughout the Easter Octave is: Christus surréxit! - Surréxit vere, allelúja (“Christ is risen!” - “He is risen indeed, Alleluia!”) – and it fills us with a renewed sense of hope and deepened trust in the Lord Jesus, our Saviour. How can we not be overjoyed in considering that singular event of Jesus rising out of the tomb, just outside of Jerusalem and therefore, is alive today, among us, in our midst, in our hearts, in the sacraments, in his Word and in the Church! That life-giving happening of yesteryear has incredible and life- changing effects on our life, today. By his death on the Cross, we today are freed from sin, from all sin, every sin and its destructive grip on our lives. By his glorious Resurrection, we today are given new life, a new beginning, new freedom, new opportunities. And so, it is with that incomparable Easter joy that I extend my warmest greetings to you and your loved ones this Easter Sunday and throughout the Easter Season.

It really is the central solemnity - most important feast - of the Christian calendar and there is no other day that compares with it: the day we celebrate Christ’s victory over sin, death and Satan, (Sacrosanctum Concilium, 102) and which we recall and actually make present every single Sunday in our weekly celebration of the Eucharist in our parishes. Simply put, “This is the Day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it” as the Psalm says so enthusiastically (Ps. 118:24). I cannot stress enough how crucial and paramount it is to participate in Holy Mass each and every Sunday. It is the weekly commemoration of Jesus’ Easter, the Pascal Mystery, the weekly occasion to renew our faith and hope, to be filled with God’s love, to build community and to pray for the needs of all. It is an encounter of grace; an opportunity we cannot miss. Let us make that effort, to celebrate in our parish communities the Eucharistic Risen Jesus who waits for us and our families with open arms every Sunday, the Lord’s Day, to draw us deeper into his Easter existence, into his newness and abundant life.

An added dimension to this Easter joy, this Easter celebration and Easter hope, is that we celebrate it in the context of the Jubilee Holy Year in which we are invited to see ourselves as Pilgrims of Hope. Let us prayerfully recall the words of Pope Francis which opened the Holy Year: “The death and resurrection of Jesus is the heart of our faith and the basis of our hope” (Spes non Confundit, 20). Our Easter faith twinned and intimately connected to Easter hope is not wishful thinking, a vague optimism, or radical escapism. Rather, it is rooted in the work and love of the Most Holy Trinity. The Holy Father continues: “Jesus experienced the drama of death. The Father’s love raised him in the power of the Spirit and made of his humanity the first fruits of our eternal salvation” (Spes non Confundit, 20). Central to our Paschal proclamation are the words of the Easter Preface, “For he is the true Lamb who has taken away the sins of the world; by dying, he has destroyed our death, and by rising restored our life” (Roman Missal, Easter Preface I). These two aspects of the Paschal mystery—Jesus’ death and resurrection—inform our hope and transform our lives forever making the life of grace available to us (cf. CCC, 654).

It is imperative for us to remember that while the Resurrection was a historical event it was and is much more, since, as a profound mystery of our living faith, the Resurrection really and ultimately transcends time and space. The Catechism teaches that: “Christ's Resurrection was not a return to earthly life, as was the case with the raisings from the dead that he had performed before Easter: Jairus' daughter, the young man of Naim, Lazarus… they would die again. Christ's Resurrection is essentially different. In his risen body he passes from the state of death to another life beyond time and space” (CCC, 646). In this way, the Resurrection is the fulfillment of our hope, the hope that corresponds to our restless hearts that long for God Himself and being in right relationship with Him, as St. Augustine intuitively phrased it (cf. St Augustine, Confessions, I, i,5).

For those who have lost loved ones, hope in the Resurrection takes on a particular meaning as it points to the reality of death but one which does not have the final word. This hope of eternal life in the Kingdom brings comfort and courage to those who mourn, knowing that death has been defeated and that they too will, one day, be raised to new life in eternity. We pray with the following words in the Preface I for the dead during a funeral Mass: “In him the hope of blessed resurrection has dawned, that those saddened by the certainty of dying might be consoled by the promise of immortality to come”.

The unique supernatural hope that Easter brings calls us to live differently in the ‘here and now’ of our existence and earthly journey. It recalls the sacrificial, self-giving love of Jesus on the cross and looks to emulate it in our daily choices and decisions – to live the Resurrected new life of Christ in and through our relationships and in society. Our hope is never passive but transformative, bidding us to engage the world and proclaim the truth and love of God. We see this on the first Easter morning, when Our Lord asks Mary Magdalene to go to Galilee and tell the others what she had seen—the tomb is empty, and Jesus is risen from the dead (cf. Mt. 28:10). The same is true today. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ calls us to live in truth, with courage, compassion, and purpose; to go out to others – the young and young at heart - family, friends, colleagues, neighbours and strangers - and share with them the awesome difference it makes in our lives to know the Lord, to live in friendship with him, to love him and to serve him as best we can. We do this in word and deed, by our testimony and example, bringing hope wherever we find ourselves and inviting all people to the newness of life made possible by the Resurrection. Truly we believe and profess the Resurrection of the body and life everlasting.

Once again, I would like to extend my Easter wishes to you and your family and friends, to the entire Archdiocese of Toronto. May the reality of Easter be a daily experience of new life, new hope, new trust and new beginnings allowing us to savour its lasting effects - day in, day out - as we journey in this life with eyes set on the life that will have no end. Blessed Easter to you all.

The Holy Father has appointed the Reverend Fr. Dejene Hidoto Gamo, O.F.M. Cap.,

The Holy Father has appointed the Reverend Fr. Dejene Hidoto Gamo, O.F.M. Cap., until now provincial vicar of Kidane Meheret of the Capuchin Friars of Ethiopia, guardian of the fraternity of Konto, director of the Abba Pascal Technical and Vocational Training Institute and pastoral coordinator of the apostolic vicariate of Soddo.

Msgr. Dejene Hidoto Gamo, O.F.M. Cap., was born on 21 March 1972 in Sibaye, Soddo. He was awarded a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Addis Ababa University and a Master of Arts in public ethics from Saint Paul University, Ottawa, Canada.

He gave his perpetual vows in 1998 and, after completing his studies and formation at the Saint Francis Capuchin Institute of Philosophy and Theology in Addis Ababa, he was ordained a priest on 9 July 2000 in Addis Ababa.

He has held the following offices: parish priest of Our Lady of Lourdes in Dubbo, Wolaita (2000-2006), social welfare director, assistant chaplain of the English-speaking international community and bursar of the Holy Saviour fraternity (2009-2012), director of the Abba Pascal Technical and Vocational Training Institute, Soddo (2012-2013 and 2016 to date); since 2023, pastoral coordinator of the apostolic vicariate of Soddo. He is currently provincial vicar of Kidane Meheret of the Capuchin Friars of Ethiopia, and guardian of the fraternity of Konto.

The Holy Father has appointed the Reverend Fr. Tesfaye Tadesse Gebresilasie, M.C.C.J.

The Holy Father has appointed the Reverend Fr. Tesfaye Tadesse Gebresilasie, M.C.C.J., until now superior general of the Comboni Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus, as auxiliary bishop of the archeparchy of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, assigning him the titular see of Cleopatris.

Fr. Tesfaye Tadesse Gebresilasie, M.C.C.J., was born in Harar on 22 September 1969. He entered the postulate of the Comboni Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus in 1986, and gave his perpetual vows in the same Congregation on 1 November 1994. He was ordained a priest on 26 August 1995 in Addis Ababa.

He was awarded a licentiate in theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, and a diploma in Islamic studies from the Pontifical Institute of Arabic and Islamic Studies in Rome. He continued his Islamic studies at Dar Comboni for Arabic Studies in Cairo, and attended a formation course at the Salesian Pontifical University of Rome.

He has held the following offices: deputy parish priest and director of the Comboni School in Haro Wato (2001), provincial counsellor of the Combini Missionaries in Ethiopia (2002-2004), provincial of the Comboni Missionaries in Ethiopia and president of the Conference of Religious Major Superiors of Ethiopia (2005), coordinator of the Confederation of Conferences of Major Superiors of Africa and Madagascar (2013), and superior general of the Comboni Missionaries (2015 and 2022).