EVEN CITY OF `POMP AND POWER' PAUSES FOR EASTER JOY

Not everyone in Washington, D.C. is decadent, depraved or worse. Consider the following lovely message, which arrived this week, on Maundy Thursday, from a newsletter I subscribe to:

Easter and Rebirth

"All Washington is stirring. There is a sense of purpose and expectation in the air. After a long, hard winter, the city is coming to life once again. Along the banks of the Potomac, daffodils are blooming. In Rock Creek Park, where Teddy Roosevelt once led his children on point-to-point walks, crocuses poke their heads up to see the remains of downed trees. Great oaks have been felled by winter's fierce blasts. At the Jefferson Memorial, the word is passed, not yet. The cherry blossoms are not quite ready to make their spectacular entry. At such a time, we recall the words of Martin Luther, that our Lord has written the promise of the Resurrection not in books alone, but in every leaf in springtime.

"The Christian celebration of Easter is a celebration of life over death, the promised triumph of good over evil. Millions of us will gather this Sunday across America, this blessed home of freedom, to celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord.

"Working in this city of pomp and power, it is sometimes easy to be impressed with the mighty. They hold forth in press conferences and televised addresses. Their words, their deeds, even their thoughts are endlessly analyzed. But there were no reporters, no cameras, no lights, no microphones there to record the most astonishing news of history, when three humble women went to the tomb and heard the words: `He is not here.'

"While we live in this world, we must respect the powers that be and submit ourselves to due authority. But Easter reminds us that we are not citizens of this world alone. The One who who made us has a prior and higher claim on us. Through His birth and life, His death and Resurrection, He naturalized us as citizens of His Heavenly City. And so, with Christian friends around the world, we can repeat the glorious news: `He is risen! He is risen, indeed.'"

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How small of all that human hearts endure

That part that laws or kings can cause or cure

Samuel Johnson

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"The strength or weakness of a society depends more on its level of spiritual life than on its level of industrialization. Neither a market economy nor even general abundance constitutes the crowning achievement of human life. If a nation's spiritual energies have been exhausted, it will not be saved from collapse by the most perfect government structure or by any industrial development: a tree with a rotten core cannot stand. This is so because of all the possible freedoms the one that will inevitably come to the fore will be the freedom to be unscrupulous; that is the freedom that can neither be prevented nor anticipated by any law ..."

Alexander Solzhenitsyn, writing in National Review