Gulf Pine Catholic

Gulf Pine Catholic • March 23, 2018 3 Gulf Pine Catholic (ISSN No. 0746-3804) March 23, 2018 Volume 35, Issue 15 The GULF PINE CATHOLIC , published every other week, is an official publication of the Catholic Diocese of Biloxi. Editorial offices are located at 1790 Popps Ferry Road Biloxi, MS 39532. Periodical postage paid at Gulfport, MS. —POSTMASTER— Send address changes to: The GULF PINE CATHOLIC 1790 Popps Ferry Road Biloxi, MS 39532 —PUBLISHER— Most Rev. Louis F. Kihneman —EDITOR— Terry Dickson —PRODUCTION / ADVERTISING — Shirley M c Cusker —CIRCULATION— Debbie Mowrey —PHOTOGRAPHY— Juliana Skelton —OFFICEHOURS— 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday - Friday —PHONE NUMBERS— Editor: 228-702-2126 Production /Advertising: 228-702-2109 Circulation: 228-702-2127 Photography: 228-702-2144 FAX: 228-702-2128 —EMAIL— News: tdickson@biloxidiocese.org Production / Advertising: smccusker@biloxidiocese.org Circulation: dmowrey@biloxidiocese.org Photography: jskelton@biloxidiocese.org —OFFICEAND MAILINGADDRESS — 1790 Popps Ferry Road Biloxi, MS 39532 —WEBSITE— www.biloxidiocese.org —SUBSCRIPTIONS — Subscription rate is $18.00 per year. When changing address, renewing or inquiring about a subscription, customer should include a recent address label with old address and new address. Allow three weeks for changes of address. —DEADLINES for APRIL6 EDITION— News copy and photos: Due MARCH 27, 4 p.m. Advertising: Completed Ad and/or copy due MARCH 27, 10 a.m. Bishop Kihneman’s Schedule March 25 Mass with the Youth, Annual Youth Conference, 10 a.m. March 27 Chrism Mass, Nativity BVM Cathedral, 10:30 a.m. March 29 Mass of the Lord’s Supper, Nativity BVM Cathedral, 6 p.m. March 30 Good Friday, 3 p.m. March 31 Easter Vigil, Nativity BVM Cathedral, 8 p.m. April 4 Mass, Priests’ Retreat, St. Joseph Abbey, Covington, 11:15 a.m. April 5 Mass w/Students, Sacred Heart High School, Hattiesburg, 9:30 a.m. Bishop Kihneman’s Easter Message When we say, “Happy Easter,” we are really saying, “He is risen and He is alive in each and every one of us.” (Baptism) That is so very important for us to know and to live as people of God. So I ask you: Do you really believe it? Do you really live that in your life? Because everything we are, and have, and actually will be, has to be touched by the Resurrection of Jesus. The Resurrection changes everything. One of the things that happens to us is that we get into the motion of life and the motion of life causes us, at times, to almost sleepwalk through life. The same thing often happens to the way we live our faith. The fervor we had when we received our First Holy Communion or after we received the Sacrament of Confirmation and had that special saint that we would ask for intercession can ebb for a lot of us over time. We need to reignite the ‘fever of faith,’ if you will, in our hearts such that we are touched and on fire with His love and on fire with the Spirit of the Resurrection, so that everyone who meets us knows that He is risen from the dead. Some time ago, I ran across the story of Dr. Eben Alexander. He was a neurosurgeon and professor at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Alexander contracted a very rare bacterial meningitis and, as a result, was in a coma for seven days. His cerebral cortex was literally flat. There was nothing going on. They thought he had already passed. But, after seven days, he awakened and had an unbelievable memory. He had always considered himself to be a Christian. But he was more of a lukewarm Christian. He just kind of had one foot in this world and one foot in the other world. He respected everyone who really did believe. But, as a scientist, he wasn’t convinced that this empty tomb stuff was all true. However, as he began to share the story of the experience that he had while in a coma, he said, “I saw wonderful sights. In fact, I heard an incredible, beautiful melody, which opened up into a valley which was so bright, so incredibly beautiful, that it defies description.” The complexity and joy of it was so wonderful. He said, “I saw beautiful, bright creatures flying through the air and there was this wonderful sound coming from each and every one of them. It was as if they would not exist except for the sound of praise and thanks.” It was praise and thanks to God, he realized. It was such incredible joy, he said, that touched his heart and everything seemed to draw together. In his book, Proof of Heaven , he wrote, “All those creatures, all those plants -- everything in the valley -- seemed to be in a wonderful, divine unity, united with God, such as, yes, they were distinct, but they all moved together. They all celebrated together. They all found that melody of joy, that melody of love.” He said it was like looking at a Persian carpet or a butterfly, where all the colors seem to mix together in a wonderful, joyous, beautiful single sign. But, he said, above all, he heard, “You are cherished. You are loved. You have nothing to fear.” He said he didn’t realize until that moment that heaven really does exist and that the Resurrection and the empty tomb are about heaven and about us joining together with Christ in such love that we are lifted up in that melody of voices singing the praises of God. That’s what the Mass (the Eucharist) is. On Easter and every time we gather around the Altar, which is a sign of the empty tomb, for Mass and the sacraments, we pray that Jesus is truly present for us as we celebrate the Eucharist together. We touch heaven and we are touched by heaven, especially as we receive His Body and His Blood. The Grace of God pours forth to each and every one of us, especially to those who are touched by the waters of Baptism. The Easter water that touches us is the Water of Baptism, the Water of God’s Grace, the Water of God’s Love, the Water of God’s Joy, the Water of God’s Peace. The Easter water is God’s love flowing through us. Part of the invitation to each of us -- and this is what happened to Peter and John in the Gospel of John 20:1-10 when they ran to the empty tomb -- is: WAKE UP! IT’S EASTER! WAKE UP! HE’S RISEN FROM THE DEAD! WAKE UP! HE’S ALIVE IN US! HE’S ALIVE IN EACH AND EVERY ONE OF US! Happy Easter! > Most Reverend Louis F. Kihneman, III Bishop of Biloxi Easter 2018 Bishop Louis F. Kihneman, III