AMDG
Dear OSJ Family
On behalf of the OSJ Jesuits, the Pastoral Staff, and our various Parish Leaders and Ministers, I wish you a most Happy and Blessed Easter!
The Rev. Gerard Manley Hopkins, SJ was an English Jesuit who today is recognized as as one of the finest religious poets of the Victorian age (and is one of my favorites!). Father Hopkins was baptized into the
Church of England in 1844, but as a young man became increasingly interested in Catholicism. In 1864, Hopkins read John Henry Cardinal Newman’s moving Apologia Pro Vita Sua, which explained the
reasons Newman had entered the Catholic Church. Two years later, Hopkins was received into the Catholic Church by Cardinal Newman. In 1868 Gerard entered the Society of Jesus and continued to use his gift of poetry in inspiring others to greater faith, hope, and love. Here are a few verses of his famous Easter poem written shortly after his conversion to the Catholic Church:
Easter
Break the box and shed the nard;
Stop not now to count the cost;
Hither bring pearl, opal, sard;
Reck not what the poor have lost;
Upon Christ throw all away:
Know ye, this is Easter Day.
Build His church and deck His shrine,
Empty though it be on earth;
Ye have kept your choicest wine—
Let it flow for heavenly mirth;
Pluck the harp and breathe the horn:
Know ye not ’tis Easter morn?
……………………………………………………
Seek God’s house in happy throng;
Crowded let His table be;
Mingle praises, prayer, and song,
Singing to the Trinity.
Henceforth let your souls always
Make each morn an Easter Day.
-Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J.
Blessed Easter!
Fr. Phil Florio, S.J.
