If you love me

Happy Easter!

Now before you think that I'm a bit crazy, I'm not. While it is proper to greet one another with this greeting throughout the Easter season, today is especially apropos because those who worship in the Eastern or Orthodox churches are celebrating Easter day today. Properly said, they greet each other today with the phrase, 'He is risen! Alleluia!'

With Easter joy, we also learn lessons today about love and commitment. In Rome, Pope Benedict presided this morning at the ordination of twenty-nine new priests. Twenty-eight of them are priests of the Diocese of Rome and one missionary who has just completed his study at the Pontifical College of Propaganda Fide.

• Pope's homily at Ordination Mass

These newly-ordained priests, like all others who are called to service in the Church, provide a witness of love and commitment to the people of God, strengthened by the Lord himself who gives us all the gift of his presence to guide us.

The scriptures proper to this day recall the Lord's promise that he will never leave us alone, that he will always be with us until the day that we are united with him in our heavenly homeland. This consolation helped to soothe the troubled spirits of the apostles who must have wondered about how they would ever carry on after Jesus had died, and it warms our hearts to know that because of the power of the resurrection, he is still walking with us, guiding us and leading us toward our ultimate destination.

Fear is conquered when faith allows us to hope in the Lord's promise. For a further reflection on this theme, read the text of my homily or listen to the podcast.

We join our voices with those of the Orthodox churches and greet one another in faith, 'He is risen, Alleluia!'