This year we celebrate the Resurrection of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on Sunday, April 20. Remarkably and happily, this year Christians of all the major strands—Catholic, Orthodox, Episcopal/Anglican, Protestant, Nondenominational, etc.—will celebrate Easter on the same day. The reason this is notable is because it’s not usually the case. The reason it isn’t the case has to do with various complex historical and theological issues. Sometimes Easter for the churches of the Western and Eastern traditions can be separated by weeks! It is important to say that despite the differences in the way the date of Easter is calculated, there does exist a desire to ultimately have a shared common date for churches across the continuum of Christianity. Because it will take significant dialogue and concerted effort to make that happen, it’s a unique joy when it happens ‘naturally’ in years like 2025.
The joy of a shared Easter date helps us to recall that Easter Sunday doesn’t just pop up on the calendar as a mere reminder of something that happened once a long time ago. Rather, the Resurrection is a living event that renews all Creation and transforms human destiny for authentic flourishing! We who follow Jesus as our Lord and Savior do well to remember that our disagreements, though challenging for our witness, are less powerful than what God actually and actively achieves in the Resurrection.
The Resurrection is the foundation of our Christian faith. Jesus’ victory over death and his overturning of our despair animates everything we do as followers of Jesus Christ. It is God’s definitive statement of ‘Yes!’ in the face of the human powers and principalities that decry ‘No’ to the offer of God’s love. It draws us together in real unity and heals our fractured communities and our tattered hearts.
This truth has animated Saint Francis Ministries for nearly 80 years. In our work with children, families, and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities we seek to follow Jesus in turning the world’s ‘No’ into a ‘Yes’ that leads to healing and hope. We are in the Resurrection Business.
Saint Francis Ministries’ Resurrection work encompasses adoption, behavioral health, Family-Centered Treatment®, Fatherhood FIRE, foster care, independent living, in-home prevention, and residential programs. Our programs and services bring new life and new hope to 12,000 children and families in six states: Arkansas, Kansas, Mississippi, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas.
This Eastertide, and throughout the whole year, we invite you to support our work and join us in the Resurrection Business. Your support helps us transform lives and systems—and makes tangible the unity God desires for the whole world!
To learn more about how you can partner with us in our mission, click here.
An Easter prayer from Saint Francis Ministries
Almighty God,
you are worshiped by all in the heavens
with songs that are never silent
and thanksgivings that never cease:
help us to raise our voices in your praise
for all the magnificent blessings of your love
we experience in the Resurrection our Son.
Grant us, in the spirit of refreshed wonder
that accompanies our discovery of the Empty Tomb,
a renewed zeal to share the Good News of the Risen Jesus
with family, friend, and stranger;
and, by word and deed in every community where we serve,
to provide new life and new hope.
We pray these things in the holy Name of Jesus,
to whom with you and the Holy Spirit,
may praise rise from the whole Creation,
now and forever. Amen.
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