Dear
Consoeurs and Confreres,
Once
again we commemorated the Passion and Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ. And what
is even more important, just when we felt the hopeless loss of Our Lord, we
rejoiced once more to celebrate and discover that on the third day He rose from
the dead. Jesus was aware of his sacrifice for mankind, He resurrected to
redeem us from sin and lead us through a path fulfilled with light.
Charity
is our most important and outstanding Insignia. The Order is called to serve
others under the Christian values such as Faith, Hope and Charity. Let us not
betray ourselves by letting down others when not accomplishing our own noble
expectations and actions due to fear, ignorance or even laziness. Christ is all
we need to keep us on our feet, to keep us walking forward, together, and not
succumbing to the darkness in the mist of unbelief.
Our
recently appointed Ecclesiastical Grand Prior, Msgr. Michele Pennisi,
Archbishop and Abbot of Monreale, has compared Christ’s resurrection to our own
awaking from the hypocrisy, materialism and cruelty that seems to rule our
society nowadays. As they say, times of crisis are also times of opportunities.
We should take a chance on the opportunity the Lord granted us when he offered
his Son in exchange for our own salvation from the morbid and dreadful
blindness we live in. In Archbishop Pennisi’s words: “Just as Jesus wept for
his friend Lazarus he also weeps for me: I am Lazarus, I am the friend, sick
and loved, but also protected by Jesus from breaking down. In the tears of Jesus
we discover the heart of God. The reason for our resurrection is in the love
that melts into tears. We resurrect now, we will resurrect after death because
He loved us. The love of God is stronger than death”.
Certainly
the love of God is stronger than death, and we should all hold to that
statement as if it were a lifelong mantra. No pain or suffering is unbearable
when he who endures it firmly believes that one day it will fade away in the
same darkness he steps out of.
Happy
Easter to all of you. I hope to see you at the upcoming June Pilgrimage in
Walsingham. May Christ and Saint Lazarus guide all of you through a path of
light and resurrection.
Atavis et Armis,
Carlos de Bourbon
Marquês de Almazán
Magnus XLIX
Magister
