Let us welcome the Easter of 2024 with the spirit of the Claretian Jubilee year that we are now celebrating. The theme for our jubilee year, Spreading the flame of the Spirit, has its source in the paschal mystery. If Christ has not been raised, in vain is our faith and proclamation of the Gospel (cf. 1 Cor 15:14). In vain would have been the life of St. Anthony Mary Claret, the martyrs and all our brothers who lived and died as Claretians.
Indeed, the Lord is risen, and he lives! Our hearts know it, even though reason may find it hard to grasp without the light of faith. St. Anthony Mary Claret knew it as the deepest truth of his life, and our brother martyrs attested it with their blood. The jubilee keeps reminding us that our hearts and communities are the hearth and home for the Spirit of the Risen Lord, the soul of the Church. When the Spirit is present, the flame is on within us, and we are on her Mission. Fr. Claret’s depiction of a missionary as a man on fire with God’s love and spreading that fire wherever he goes (cf Aut 494) expressed it best.
We discover the depth of the Easter event by walking the way of the cross that Jesus embraced. It is a truth embedded in nature as in the case of a seed that falls and dies to give life (cf. Jn 12:24). Our missionary vocation implies an ongoing process of dying to ourselves to give life.
We have been living this holy week helplessly witnessing the crucifixion of humanity in different parts of the world through wars, conflicts, and destruction of life. Our suffering human race, embraced by the sorrowful Mother of God, is the image of Pieta that we contemplate with the hope that humanity will be freed from the bondage of sin and that we can partake in the triumph of life and love. Let us, like the apostles, go where the Lord sends us to bear witness to the Risen Lord, knowing that the Lord works with us and confirms His word by the signs that accompany us. (cf.”Mk 16:20).
Let us join the joyful cry of the Church: The Lord is risen! Hallelujah!
Fr. Mathew Vattamattam, CMF
Superior General
Rome, March 31, 2024
