“Good News and Bad News.” Somehow that always gets our attention more than just “good news” or “bad news.” I think it’s because we don’t really know how to appreciate and truly experience good unless we have some contrast with bad, and how do we know what’s bad unless we have something good to relate it to?
So Happy Easter! For Christians, it’s the biggest “Good News” day of the year! This is the day we recall Jesus’s resurrection and triumph over death, showing us that he is God and we are not! Further, we commemorate his new promise of eternal life through him, by our own free will to love him by loving one another. So what’s the bad news? Our free will often takes us away from God by our selfish choices that hurt ourselves, others who love us, and still others who suffer from our bad decisions.
Our ministries of St. Vincent de Paul Society surround us with many people suffering from seemingly endless selfish and unloving choices – whether their own or others’ choices, and often a combination. The Good News of Easter is that our loving creator calls each of us back to him, but we still have loving choices to make from each person’s own free will. Every decision point can either bring us closer to God or farther away. So our mission is to love one another, which means not only providing food, clothing, shelter, and a listening ear, but also affirming good choices and discouraging bad choices – all with our view toward a loving God who wants us to choose eternal love.
Every celebration of Easter is a new beginning. Let’s show one another the love we are called to be every day as coworkers and as friends to our neighbors in need through St. Vincent de Paul Society.
Yours in the Risen Christ,
Michael
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Michael Vanderburgh
Executive Director
St. Vincent de Paul Society, Dayton
Romans 5:3-5
(513) 257-6266 mobile
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