Greetings in the Lord!

Today the whole Catholic world celebrates the center of our faith: the Resurrection of Jesus. For more than six weeks we have prepared for this wonderful mystery with much anticipation through intense prayers, devoted penance and generous charitable acts of mercy during the season of Lent and active participation in the liturgical activities during the Paschal Triduum beginning last Holy Thursday, Good Friday and the Easter Vigil last night. How wonderful to see a community of faith celebrating the greatest mystery in the world: which is the rising of Jesus from the dead after three days of being on earth. In the words of Pope Francis, he mentioned that the Resurrection of Jesus “is not the happy ending of a movie, but an intervention of God the Father when all seems lost, a humble victory that human looks like a failure, when Jesus reached the end of the path of humiliation and dispossession by accepting betrayal, insults and death. The puzzling mystery of the great humility of God, who agrees to die and die like a criminal on the cross.”

Today let us all rejoice for this heavenly mystery that gives hope to all who believe that suffering and pain, death and despair have an end in the mystery that the raising of Jesus from the dead completely vanquished and made meaningless

Danny Hernaez From Whom

All Blessings

him and confessed what she had done and why she had done it. Her boss accepted her confession and forgave her. Strangely enough, he allowed her to keep the laptop computer. Truth never changes. It is absolute. When we make decisions based on other actions that are taken, we move into making decisions based on the situation, not truth and righteousness. The executive may indeed have been wronged, but she had to address the wrong in the appropriate way. Trying to compensate for the wrong by doing something that violates another scriptural principle is called situational ethics. If the employer had never wronged the executive, do you think she would have felt justified in taking the computer? Probably not. When you isolate the two situations, you see that one action was taken in response to the other action. Have you had any experiences in which you have used situational ethics? The Lord desires His people to have a higher standard, even at the cost of being wronged. Ask the Lord to reveal any business practices that may indicate situational ethics. You might be surprised what will happen when you do the right thing.

The disciples thought they suffered their greatest defeat when Jesus died on the cross. However, this defeat became the greatest victory on earth. Christ's death gave liberty. Forgiveness came to all men. New life came forth - new strength for the disciples. Resurrection and new life came as a result of a "defeat."

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CHULA VISTA, CA -- Judge

(ret.) Pedro de Castro Rivera, Jr., 93, of Alaminos City, Pangasinan passed away on April 2, 2023, surrounded by friends and loved ones. His remains lie in state at the Funeraria Del Angel Mortuary in National City, and will be open for private viewing by family members from 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM and by his legion of friends and relatives from 11:00 AM to 9:00 PM on Friday, April 14. The Celebration of Life will be held on

Saturday, April 15 from 10:00 to 12 noon at the First United Methodist Church of National City, with Pastor Nelson Castorillo presiding over the Necrological Service. Invited to give an eulogy are Honorary

Consul General Audie De Castro, National City Mayor Ron Morrison, AARP California Executive Chair Joe Garbanzos, Commissioner Art Moreno of Chula Vista and Senior Commissioner Florfina “Boodgie” Santiago Arce of National City.

Rivera lived a full and fruitful life in the Philippines where he was active in sports and professional circles. His love for tennis was imbibed by his five sons and became their passport to come to the United States. One of his sons, Oliver Tady Rivera, who now lives in Australia was a Philippine tennis champion at an early age.

A graduate of San Beda College (high school) and the Ateneo de Manila University (law), former despite its concrete existence in the world today. Jesus has risen from the dead but pain and suffering remain and constantly keep people confused and bewildered and often lost. However, with faith that is made mature through listening to the words of Jesus, living it daily in our lives, the faithful become emboldened to testify with courage to the reality that the rising of Jesus is the fulfillment of the mission that the Father has sent his only Son to become human in order to manifest his never ending love for humanity and raising it to the level of divinity that is manifested in the mystery of the resurrection.

The historicity of this reality is no longer contestable is shown in the gospel narrative and the conversion of the first disciples who witnessed the “empty tomb” which was clear and definitive evidence of the death of Jesus and its “emptiness” as a sensible explanation on how one can return to life again, because of the divine and supernatural intervention that occurred. For this they became witnesses and they proclaimed with testimony with courage and devotion. Two of these disciples are worth mentioning. Peter who was one of the first who came to find the empty tomb, was at first bewildered and made to hide “for fear of the Jews,” but began to preach the Good News with boldness to the same Jews who had first terrified him. He became to transformed man! The other is Paul, who in the second reading, elevates the Easter transformation with a challenge “for our paschal lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed. Therefore, let us celebrate the feast, not with old yeast of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. This is the challenge that we have today, as children of the apostolic witnesses, we are called to witness the Resurrection with our transformed life: dying to corrupt and wicked ways and rising as new persons: sincere, faithful and true. This can happen when we become one in mind and heart, loving and helping each other because we are children of God whose Son was sent to die on the cross for the salvation of humanity and rose from the dead so that all of us would share his divinity.

Executive Assistant of the Secretary of Labor, Agapito Braganza and a Columbo Plan Study-Travel grantee, and President of the Alaminos Varsitarian, Rivera migrated to the United States after his retirement as City Judge of Alaminos. He was widowed from his first wife, Patria Quimpo Tady of Sara, Iloilo in 2017. A chance encounter with Aurora Soriano Cudal in a social gathering of Pangasinenses that same year led to the re-kindiling of a relationship that started in the Philippines sixty years ago and eventual marriage solemnized at the Congregational Community Church in Chula Vista, CA.

Rivera is survived by his children, Rey, Alex, Oliver, Percival, Gerry and Grace Tady Rivera Mallilos of

Colorado Springs, Colorado and his wife, Aurora Soriano Cudal, an active Filipino American community volunteer in San Diego County.