PARADERS UP & HAT ’EM
Easter finery and color on full display Dolan lauds light’s victory over darkness
HUNDREDS OF Christian faithful flocked to St. Patrick’s Cathedral in their finest Sunday to celebrate Easter.
Archbishop Timothy Cardinal Dolan used his homily to highlight the most joyful day in the Christian calendar, which celebrates the resurrection of Christ.
“If you can’t be in Jerusalem, this ain’t bad,” the archbishop told the crowd inside the packed Fifth Ave. cathedral.
He began his sermon by telling the crowd that Easter is a celebration of light’s victory over darkness.
“He who laughs last, laughs best,” he told worshipers.
“Who has the last word in this drama, this courtroom, this debate that we call life?” he said.
“In the beginning God said, ‘Let there be light.’ In the beginning was the word and the word was with God. God also had the last word. It is a word of life, light and mercy and grace,” Dolan said.
Hundreds had lined up outside St. Patrick’s before the Mass began — many wearing stylish Easterthemed hats and crisp suits they also wore for the colorful Easter Parade on Fifth Ave.
The crowd included former Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Woody Johnson, owner of the New York Jets and the new U.S. ambassador to Britain.
Both men were seated in the front row, but Dolan in his sermon steered clear of current affairs and politics.
“The word on Friday was about hate and rejection. We are the type of people who think Good Friday is the last word. It is not,” he said. “It is spring, not winter! It is rebirth, not a funeral!”
He ended the mass by asking for a prayer to those who risk their lives by attending Christian mass in hostile parts of the world.
Coptic Christians in Egypt marked a somber Easter a week after twin bombings by ISIS terrorists killed dozens of worshipers at churches in two cities.
“I prayed specifically for those who literally took their lives in their own hands, who risked their lives to worship this morning in certain parts of the world where there is persecution and attacks on our whole religion and people of all faiths. So we’re with them in prayer,” Dolan said.
But he also noted that Easter has always been a time of turmoil.
“Think of that first Easter . . . there were three soldiers guarding the tomb. Good Friday and Easter Sunday have always been a little risky,” he said.
And in a nod to the faithful followers in flowery outfits, he added, “Usually in church I’m the one who has the nicest hat. Today I’m overshadowed.”