This is where Easter is so important and central. All we can do is (and it is so important that we do it or we can view life in a very limited and warped way ) look at the cross - as evil and ugly a thing as we could think of - and say, “God, help me to trust as Jesus did, that you can bring goodness out of evil.”

We may not see it often but it does happen often. There are people who are constantly embracing hardship (what we call evil) and quite often with the support of many good people around them. There are people with disabilities, others impaired by terrible accidents or sickness, people burdened with many other circumstances and happenings beyond their control, people living in poverty, people living with life and soul destroying addictions. Examples of heroism and goodness emerge in such situations time and time again - by those in hardship themselves and / or by the people who care for them.

I believe that it is the Power of Jesus working in and through such people and situations. It is Jesus with them in their cross and Jesus drawing goodness and life from it all for them.

Our Easter mystery, Jesus’s Death and Resurrection - Jesus passing from death to Life - makes it all possible.

It is so true of the greatest evils - sin and death. Jesus has conquered both, gaining forgiveness of any sin, no matter how horrible, as well as the gift of Eternal Life.

Easter spans the whole spectrum of life - from womb to tomb. Wherever we are in this journey, this Easter, Jesus is saying to us, “I am with you. I offer forgiveness and healing for any sin, anytime. I draw goodness and life out of everything, even death.”

A happy Easter and may this Pascal Mystery daily speak to you and affect your life.