Dear Brothers and Sisters: 

“The more we let God take us over, the more truly ourselves we become - because He made us. He invented us. He invented all the different people that you and I were intended to be. . .It is when I turn to Christ, when I give up myself to His personality, that I first begin to have a real personality of my own.” (C.S. Lewis)

This month, to me, seems to be the start of a new year … whether it be a calendar year, after my birthday, or even the start of the Season of Lent or Advent. As the weather slowly warms up and more people are receiving the COVID vaccine, it seems a new day is dawning. For over a year we have been careful while we have avoided visiting family and friends. Now we are slowly moving out of “tombs” to a “new life.” As Provincial Superior, prior to the COVID pandemic I was constantly on the road visiting our Redemptorist houses and confreres. The pandemic brought my travel schedule to a quick halt (saving the Province a great deal on airline tickets and gasoline charges!). Slowly now I have resumed visiting our confreres and it is certainly a joy to break bread with them face-to-face instead of over a computer screen.

As this new day dawns, I also find myself looking over the past year and seeing how perhaps I “wasted” an opportunity to use this time of lockdown to strengthen my own spiritual life.  Perhaps I got caught up in the fear of COVID or my own selfish attitude of being confined to the house while not being able to visit family and friends. This Easter Season with its warm weather and slowly getting back to normal has seen me turning more to Christ and trying to let him once again take over. It is a new day and a new beginning.

I pray this Easter Season has seen each of you turning more to the Risen Christ, allowing his personality to be part of you. This Easter Season many of our churches are opening up to more and more people … it is good to be able to welcome everyone back into the Church family to share a meal, to receive the Body and Blood of our Redeemer. As a Church, as a world, we have endured much over the last year. A new day is dawning just like that first Easter Sunday when Christ emerged from his own tomb and breathed the gift of the Spirit on his friends. Let us now arise this day from our own darkness to embrace the light of the Risen Christ. Let us experience the Breath of the Spirit and go forth once again as witnesses to the Redeemer in a world that is just waiting to be experienced.

Finally, I wish to offer a profound sense of gratitude to all those who have contributed to the Redemptorist relief on the island of St. Vincent. The generosity of so many has been touching and has shone on the people of St. Vincent as well as our confreres, Fr. Kevin and Br. Gerard, who continue to help with relief efforts on the island. May your kindness be richly rewarded and may Our Mother of Perpetual Help continue to watch over you and the people of St. Vincent.

In the Spirit of the Redeemer,

Paul J. Borowski, C.Ss.R.