Easter is a Welcome to Heaven

Happy Easter to Crescent Parishes guests, homecomers, and parishioners!  In the name of our risen Lord Jesus, welcome to all!  Due to Beacons of Light, Easter will never be the same…and it’s all about welcome.  What do I mean by that?  All fifty days of Easter (and every Sunday) is the celebration of the culmination of the Paschal Mystery of Jesus:  It is meant to be heaven on earth, the summation of his life’s teaching, the goal of his healing, and the completion of the fullness of his forgiveness!  In all those dimensions of Jesus’ life and ministry, welcome is a clear focus.  His birth is the Father’s welcome to us in the most powerful way possible.  His teaching and life welcome us into the experience of the Kingdom of God, where, most times, things are opposite of how they appear to our human experience and intuition. 
 
Joyful Paradoxes of Faith

In other words, being welcomed by Jesus and our welcoming him turns things upside down:  being lost is to be found, sickness is a way to health, sorrow and sadness mean joy, despair turns to hope, sacrifice is transformed into great abundance, suffering and death mean health and life to the full here on earth and life eternal!  These are the proud paradoxes to which the Paschal Mystery of Jesus points!  Especially through the practice of our awesome Catholic Faith and sacramental life, the resurrection of Jesus opens the way for the great paradoxes of our Christian faith to be opportunities to be welcomed into the priceless joy of Jesus!  But that is not all. 
 
A New Way

Fearfully and wonderfully, Beacons of Light is a new way to live the paschal mystery’s paradoxes.  It is a new way to welcome Jesus and to be welcomed by him.  Below, look over some of Crescent Parishes’ incredible accomplishments of Beacons of Light in less than a year:
· We are building a common identity as Crescent Parishes.  See later pages in the bulletin for more information about our “Crescent Parish” name and perhaps our saint.
· We have an initial leadership team and Beacons of Light benchmarked leaders in place like liturgy and evangelization directors.
· The leadership team is unafraid to admit mistakes and walk back decisions when better options are made apparent by God’s holy people in our parishes.
· We have an organizational chart as well as a positive and proactive approach to leadership, management, and goals that is unheard of in parish life.
· We are sharing multiple staff members and those staff members are fostering a wonderful unity of spirit among all staff members.
· Offices are beginning to be united through an integral phone system that is realizing great cost savings for all.
· We have a newly released united church bulletin for Crescent Parishes.
· Pastoral councils are meeting together every month.  I know of no other parish family that has started to do that.
· We have had numerous social and liturgical unities where parishes are inviting each other to events.
·  As an example of Love in Action, our newly formed Crescent Parishes Community Garden outreach ministry will work to serve those in great need by providing local food banks with fresh, healthy produce and helping to build bridges of unity and collaboration among our community and Crescent Family.
· All parishes are experiencing increased opportunities such as a wider variety of lifelong faith formation options including; Bible, book, and video studies.  Already, at a couple of our parishes, parish leaders are wrestling with difficult sacrifices with Christlike courage and strength.
All of the first fruits of Beacons of Light above came at a price.  We welcomed the opportunity for Jesus’ inspiration, reflection, hard work, and sacrifice. And yet, we know that the work of Beacons is just beginning.  
 
Our Parishes in the Tomb…Awaiting Resurrection and New Life

As the Transfiguration was for the apostles in the days before Jesus’ death, the bullets above offer us just glimpses of the glory to come our way, but not without first experiencing greater dimensions of the Passion and death of Jesus. Most especially in the fact that within four years, give or take, all of our parishes will be figuratively and literally in the tomb.  Thanks to all Crescent Parishes’ parishioners and visitors who welcome Beacons of Light.  In so doing here on earth, we will welcome and be surprised by the joy and the newness of Jesus’ Resurrection, an experience of heaven, far beyond our wildest hopes!
 
Sincerely and with Love in Christ,
 
Fr. Pat