St. Mary's Visitation Catholic Parish, Elm Grove, WI
  • Home
    • Calendars
    • Mass Schedule
    • Weekly Bulletin
    • Update My Information
    • Contact Us
  • Grow with Us
    • Our History
    • About Us >
      • Parish Staff
      • Our Parish School
    • Our Ministries >
      • For Kids
      • For Teens
      • For Adults >
        • Visitation Speaker Series
    • Resources
  • Pray with us
    • Mass Times
    • Perpetual Adoration
    • Sacraments
    • Devotions
    • Funerals >
      • Funeral Readings
      • Funeral Music
      • St. Mary's Cemetery
  • Serve with Us
    • Parish Calendars
    • Human Concerns >
      • Respect Life
      • Prayer Request
    • Leadership
    • Music Ministry
    • Liturgical Ministries
    • Thrift Shop >
      • St. Mary's Shop Online
    • Christian Women
    • Stewardship
  • Support our Parish
    • Make a Donation
    • Mass Intentions
  • Our Parish School
    • About our school >
      • What sets us apart
      • Photo gallery
      • Curriculum
      • Tours, Tuition and admissions
      • In the News
    • School Calendar
    • Our School Staff
    • For Parents
    • For Students
    • Support Our School
    • After School Care
    • Athletics

Easter Morning!

4/1/2018

 
My dear brothers and sisters, it is with great joy that we celebrate once again the glorious Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ!  Alleluia!  As we have journeyed to the Cross over the Lenten Season we can now glory in the victory won upon it over the course of the Easter Season.  Here are some words from a homily by St. Ephrem the Deacon, a Doctor of the Church who lived in the 4th Century:

“Death trampled our Lord underfoot, but he in his turn treated death as a highroad for his own feet.  He submitted to it, enduring it willingly, because by this means he would be able to destroy death in spite of itself.  Death had its own way when our Lord went out from Jerusalem carrying his cross; but when by a loud cry from that cross he summoned the dead from the underworld, death was powerless to prevent it. 

Death slew him by means of the body which he had assumed, but that same body proved to be the weapon with which he conquered death.  Concealed beneath the cloak of his manhood, the godhead engaged death in combat; but in slaying our Lord, death itself was slain.  It was able to kill natural human life, but was itself killed by the life that is above the nature of man.

Death could not devour our Lord unless he possessed a body, neither could hell swallow him up unless he bore our flesh; and so he came in search of a chariot in which to ride to the underworld.  This chariot was the body which he received from the Virgin; in it he invaded death’s fortress, broke open its strongroom and scattered all its treasure.

He who was also the carpenter’s glorious son set up his cross above death’s all-consuming jaws and led the human race into the dwelling place of life  Since a tree had brought about the downfall of mankind, it was upon a tree that mankind crossed over to the realm of life.  Bitter was the branch that had once been grafted upon that ancient tree, but sweet the young shoot that has now been grafted on, the shoot in which we are meant to recognize the Lord whom no creature can resist. 

We give glory to you, Lord, who raised by your cross to span the jaws of death like a bridge by which souls might pass from the region of the dead to the land of the living.  You are incontestably alive.  Your murderers sowed your living body in the earth as farmer sow grain, but it sprang up and yielded an abundant harvest of men raised from the dead.

Come then, my brothers and sisters, let us offer our Lord the great and all-embracing sacrifice of our love, pouring out our treasury of hymns and prayers before him who offered his cross in sacrifice to God for the enrichment of us all.”
​

A blessed and joyful Easter to all of you and your families! 
 ​

Comments are closed.
    Picture

    Fr. Peter 

    Archives

    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    February 2023
    December 2022
    August 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    December 2021
    September 2021
    June 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    December 2020
    August 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    December 2019
    September 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    June 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Our Ministries

For Kids
For Teens
For Adults
For Seniors
For Visitors

Our School

Learn With Us
​About our School
For Parents
For Students
Our School Staff
School Calendar
​Support our School
After School Care
Athletics

Join us at Mass

​Saturday at 4pm; 
​Sunday at 7:30am, 9:00am, 10:30am

Daily Masses:
Monday-Friday 6:30am
Tuesday/Thursday 8am (school days only)
Saturdays 8am​

Sacrament of Reconciliation
Privacy Policy

Picture
  St. Mary's Visitation Catholic Parish, 1260 Church Street, Elm Grove, WI 53122  |   262-782-4575  
  Parish Office Hours: Mon/Tues/Wed/Thurs  9:00am-3:30pm  |  Fri 9:00am-noon

  St. Mary's Visitation Catholic School, 13000 Juneau Boulevard, Elm Grove, WI 53122  |  262-782-7057
  • Home
    • Calendars
    • Mass Schedule
    • Weekly Bulletin
    • Update My Information
    • Contact Us
  • Grow with Us
    • Our History
    • About Us >
      • Parish Staff
      • Our Parish School
    • Our Ministries >
      • For Kids
      • For Teens
      • For Adults >
        • Visitation Speaker Series
    • Resources
  • Pray with us
    • Mass Times
    • Perpetual Adoration
    • Sacraments
    • Devotions
    • Funerals >
      • Funeral Readings
      • Funeral Music
      • St. Mary's Cemetery
  • Serve with Us
    • Parish Calendars
    • Human Concerns >
      • Respect Life
      • Prayer Request
    • Leadership
    • Music Ministry
    • Liturgical Ministries
    • Thrift Shop >
      • St. Mary's Shop Online
    • Christian Women
    • Stewardship
  • Support our Parish
    • Make a Donation
    • Mass Intentions
  • Our Parish School
    • About our school >
      • What sets us apart
      • Photo gallery
      • Curriculum
      • Tours, Tuition and admissions
      • In the News
    • School Calendar
    • Our School Staff
    • For Parents
    • For Students
    • Support Our School
    • After School Care
    • Athletics