EASTER MASS
Bishop Scharfenberger leads area Catholics in recognition of most sacred day
ALBANY, N.Y. >> Area Catholics celebrated the most sacred day of the liturgical year on Sunday morning at Easter mass with Bishop Edward Scharfenberger.
The bishop, leader of the 14-county Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany, presided during the Easter Sunday mass, which drew hundreds of church-goers to the historic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Albany.
The altar was decorated with white Easter lilies and the joyous sounds of horns filled the large cathedral for the occasion. Many attendees wore their Sunday best, including girls in bright spring-colored Easter dresses.
While gathered for mass, event-goers were sprinkled with holy water, renewed their baptismal promises and heard the bishop’s homily, during which he spoke about the change in reality when Jesus Christ was resurrected.
Scharfenberger’s message started with a series of “what ifs,” challenging his audience to think about their faith in a different way.
The bishop shared how even though Christ predicted and told his disciples about the resurrection and they hoped for it to take place, they were not prepared for what was to happen three days after his crucifixion.
“And then one day it happened,” Scharfenberger said. “One morning Jesus rose from the tomb.”
Scharfenberger addressed the negative outlook that many people hold, both in the past and present.
Those who assumed Christ’s grave was robbed, he said, “They thought the worst. They were thinking as the world thinks. They were thinking as you and I, for most of our lives, are programmed to think it’s getting worse and it’s going to get worse and it’s not going to change.”
With this mentality, “No wonder they were not pre
pared,” Scharfenberger continued. “We can certainly understand.”
This narrative is not reality, Scharfenberger said, mentioning the Easter Sunday bombing attacks on Christian churches in Sri Lanka.
“They’ve been doing that since the beginning of Christianity,” he said. “Christians keep coming back. Why? Because you can’t kill it. It’s not an idea, it’s a reality - and that’s the point. This is reality.”
The Easter miracle created “a new and true reality of a redeemed world,” Scharfenberger said.
This transformed the lives of early Christians, and still today sparks change within individuals.
“Not only did they come to believe it, they came to live it. They showed it by their lives and handed on to us not only their story and their faith, but also the legacy of their lives,” Scharfenberger said. “Now it’s our turn.”