The Power Of  The Resurrection:

Last week, the Resurrection took on another new meaning for me. It was a particularly hectic week. I felt as if I were running from pillar-to-post starting fires in some places and putting them out in others. The last thing I wanted to hear at the end of the day on Friday was that I had a visitor.
Before I had a chance to respond to the announcement, a young woman appeared at my door and asked if we could talk. My voice responded, "Certainly," but my heart begged her to let me finish clearing off my desk.
It is not with any sense of pride that I tell you that I didn't clear off my desk, but rather sat down to talk with and listen to this stranger who really needed help. Her story was long and it was heartbreaking. And when I realized how much more difficult if was to tell than to listen, I forgot what chores I had left undone, and listened with my whole heart and soul.
That young woman left my office many hours later, still carrying with her the same problems that she had brought in. But she also left knowing that she was not alone and that someone thought she was important enough to hear her out.
For my part, I was reminded that one of the messages of the Resurrection is that we are never alone.  I learned that when we make ourselves consciously present to others, when we pay attention to them - we resurrect them - we give them new life, just as Jesus gave it to you and to me.
Fr. Leonard, S.T.

Transformation To New Life:

"What a great afternoon this is," thought the young boy. "Grandpa and me fishing all by ourselves." The two of them just talked and fished, and aimlessly drifted in a row-boat on a lake. The boy became restless ? normal for a boy ? and he leaned over the side to look into the water. There, just beneath the surface, a bunch of water beetles were flitting around as if they were playing.
Suddenly one of the water beetles crawled up on an oar. When it got halfway up, it attached the talons of its legs to the wooden oar and died. The boy's curiosity was aroused and he interrupted his grandfather's nap to show him. They went back to fishing.
About three hours later, the boy looked down, at the dead beetle. What he saw caused him to jump, almost tipping the boat. The beetle had dried up, and its shell started to crack open. Both the astonished grandfather and the boy watched silently at what unfolded before their eyes.
Something began to emerge from the opening: first long tentacles, then a head, then moist wings until, finally, a beautiful dragonfly fully emerged.
They both stared in awe. The dragonfly began to move its wings, slowly at first. Then it hovered gracefully over the water where the other water beetles were still flitting around. They didn't even recognize the dragonfly. They didn't realize that it was the same beetle they had played with some three hours earlier.
The boy took his finger and nudged the dried-out shell of the beetle. It was like an empty tomb.
Cecil B. De Mille

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