He has Risen!! Happy Easter to you all. This past week has been like the “World Series for Priests”, multiple large liturgies back-to-
back. It is a very busy time of year, yet also a very wonderful one. I pray you were able to take part in the celebration of the Sacred
Triduum this year. This is the time when so much of the busyness of helping at penance services drops off to nothing.

My Triduum started with the celebration of the Chrism Mass down at the Cathedral of St Paul. The Chrism Mass is a Mass celebrat-
ed by the Archbishop where he will bless the holy oils. There are three holy oils that are blessed each year. These oils are used
throughout the Archdiocese, for Baptisms, Confirmations, Ordinations, and Anointing of the Sick (also known as Last Rites). This is
a beautiful liturgy and at it, priests renew the promises they made at their ordination. Many of you run through my mind as I renew
my promises to serve God’s people. If you have never been to the Chrism Mass, it really is an experience. I know it is a drive to the
Cathedral and parking is not easy. I know I always go down early and spend time in the Cathedral in prayer and remembering my
four summers I lived and worked at the Cathedral. That was my First Big Liturgy of the day.

Thursday Night’s Mass of the Lord’s Supper includes the one time a year washing of the feet. This has always been a powerful mo-
ment for me. It is a reminder of the priesthood as servant. For about five years a friend of mine and I would get together after this
liturgy and the two of us would wash each other’s feet. It was always a very moving moment for both of us. I sometimes think fami-
lies at home should get together and do this with their children or spouse on Holy Thursday. This year, due to my surgery, I got be-
hind in lining up people for the foot washing. I am grateful to those who stepped forward with very little notice.

Good Friday is often a day that I grieve. We really lose the power of Easter morning if we don’t spend some time with Good Friday.
Since coming to St Luke’s and carrying in the cross that is in the gathering space it really has helped me feel like I am standing in for
Christ carrying his Cross. It also gets me thinking about the crosses I have carried in my life and how big some of them have been,
and how Christ has always helped me carry them.

I pray all of you will be having a wonderful Easter Celebration with your family or friends. People will check with me often about
where I will be going. I will be heading down to the Twin Cities to be with my family, so don’t worry about me. Please do not forget
the whole reason behind Easter. It is not the BIG meal; it is not the candy (it is not even about the Peeps). These things can be great
and add to our celebration, but do not forget the events we celebrated this last week. Christ’s Death and Resurrection. Liturgically
we now move into the Octave of Easter, the next 8 days are celebrated with the same joy as Easter Sunday.

At this time of great Easter Joy, I would also like to thank all of you who have shown concern and support for me over the last month
since my surgery. Many have expressed prayer for healing, something that will be needed on-going yet. After 5-6 months of healing,
they will make me my permanent set of teeth and I will be more involved with this than what I was with what I have now. I know I
had to let people know what I was doing, but have sometimes still remained a little guarded about answering some detailed ques-
tions. There are different ways to do this and most of you know someone or have gone through it yourself. However, there are always
things that are different. I experienced this with my Holy Land trip too. “Did you go to….?” “No, we did not.” “What?” There are so
many places to see in the Holy Land that you could never see them all in a ten-day trip. I am glad that our trip had some down time to
pray and visit with others on the trip about what they experienced at each of the sites. There are also a variety of different ways I
could have chosen to do this. I prayed about it a long time before I made the decision and talked a lot with my sister who has ‘been
there and done that.’ She has been great in walking through this whole thing with me. So again, Thank You to all who have been
supportive of me at this time. Some things have surprised me with this and other things I know about more ahead of time. At this
writing, I cannot yet chew or use Fixodent, but I’m hoping for the green light in a couple of days; I am hoping for a huge improvement
in my speaking for Easter. Thank You again.

Blessings,
Fr Backer