wfn.org | [ENS] Presiding Bishop celebrates Easter in Florentine Episcopal church

["Matthew Davies" <mdavies@episcopalchurch.org>]

>Episcopal News Service
>April 12, 2009

Presiding Bishop celebrates Easter in Florentine Episcopal church

>By Solange De Santis

[Episcopal News Service -- Florence, Italy] Referring to the earthquake  that
devastated the Italian town of L'Aquila in the Abruzzi region six days
earlier, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori marked Easter Day  here
by asking whether men and women can always recognize the risen Christ.

"The Easter question for us is always, do we recognize what we're  seeing?
Can we see newly risen life in L'Aquila? . Can we see Jesus in  unexpected
joy?" she said in a sermon delivered at St. James Church, the so-called
"American church" in Florence celebrating the end of its centennial  year.

Referring to the day's Gospel reading from the book of John, Jefferts  Schori
noted that the first two disciples to discover that Christ's body was  gone
from the tomb returned home and did not understand what they had  witnessed.
Mary Magdalene, who stayed by the sepulcher to grieve, saw the  resurrected
Christ, but at first did not recognize him. When she did, she then went  to
tell the disciples.

"In Easter, God has reworked the nature of creation. Death is no longer  the
end of things.  We live in the assurance that the deaths in Abruzzi are
being turned for life, even though we may not see or recognize it for a  long
time. That hope is sustained in communities like this one -- where the
resurrected one keeps that hope lively in some so that it may inflame  and
infect others' despair," she said.

The death toll from the 6.3-magnitude earthquake on April 6 has risen to
293, with 40,000 homeless. On Good Friday, flags in Italy flew at  half-staff
to mark a day of mourning as a mass outdoor funeral service took place  in
L'Aquila. Pope Benedict XVI, at the traditional outdoor Easter mass in  St.
Peter's Square, said, "May the risen Christ . inspire in all the  necessary
wisdom and courage to proceed united in the building of a future open to
hope."

After the St. James service, Jefferts Schori noted in an interview that
Episcopal Relief and Development, the church's disaster-relief and  economic
development agency, is accepting donations for earthquake victims and
intends to funnel them through the Italian Red Cross.

She referred to ministries at St. James, asking, "Can we find the  presence
of the risen one in those who come here to St. James to be fed? . The
Italian families who are served here at St. James each week are finding  a
glimpse of new life as they wait for the kind of dignity that will let  them
feed their families in an ongoing and reliable way. The students who  come
here for dinner on Wednesday are eager for community that will tell them
they matter, even as strangers in a strange land." St. James runs a food
bank and serves about 100 families. It also hosts a weekly low-price  dinner
for young people in Florence on study programs.

Full story and photos:

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_106838_ENG_HTM.htm

The full text of the Presiding Bishop's sermon can be downloaded at
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/documents/041209_PBEasterSermon.doc

-- Solange De Santis is the editor of Episcopal Life Media.