Surprise!  ...Loyola, a sappling among the Giant Redwoods of the basketball world, makes the final Four!  Surprise! Their Mascot 98 years old Sister Jean now has bobblehead dolls made of her! Surprise! a gravel patch on our western walkway, suddenly sprouts hundreds of daisies!

Easter is all about Surprise! It is the Feast of Great Surprise!

From the Contemporary Way Of The Cross:

"The first streaks of dawn break upon the Eastern sky.Birdsong fills the air! They are the first to sing Alleluia!

Mary of Magdala, spices in hand, enters the Garden, expecting death, discovering life!"

Surprise!

There are hints all arounf of new life, pushing away death.

Old people do new things.

They learn to dance, master the computer.

New babies take new steps from their cribs.

Alcoholics recover, one step at a time.

Unemployed retrain for new jobs.

An airplane lands in the Hudson. Passemgers escape its tomb, and stand on it's wings.

The team that hs no chance wins.

Salmon leap huge waterfalls and fight their way home.

Seedlings arise from ashes and devestation.

And Monarch Butterflies return 2000 miles to an ancestral home --a place they have never been!

"With Jesus Resurrection, love has triumphed! Mercy has been victorious!

Pope Francis.

Marvelous Creator of new life, send us forth Daughters and Sons of the Resurrection, to bring "good news to the poor, release to capives, and a year of favor from the Lord!