'Jesus' Resurrection is about new life' Bishop tells Colts Neck faithful
April 22, 2025 at 11:20 a.m.
UPDATED 4-22-2025
Emphasizing the significance of Christ’s Resurrection, Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., said that “For all of us, Easter is the heart of our faith – its life, its breath, its everything.
“There is no more significant human expression than faith in Jesus’ Resurrection,” he said. "He didn't just die and come back to life. He was not revived or resuscitated. Jesus' Resurrection is about new life, transformed life, a completely different order of existence."
Bishop O’Connell wrapped up his 2025 Holy Week and Easter schedule by celebrating the noon Mass on Easter, April 20, at St. Mary Church, Colts Neck. His visits throughout the week included St. George, Titusville, Palm Sunday; St. Aloysius, Jackson, Holy Thursday; St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral, Trenton, Good Friday; and Our Lady Queen of Peace, Hainesport, for the Easter Vigil.
Through The Ages
Bishop O’Connell reviewed highpoints of Jesus’ life to a congregation that filled the church to capacity, with the overflow crowd seated on folding chairs in the adjoining gathering space. He said that, other than the story of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem and his appearance in the temple at age 12, the Gospels are largely silent until he appears before John the Baptist in the Jordan River and begins his public ministry around the age of 30.
“Those hidden years of Jesus’ life leave everything to the imagination and to speculation, and while that is true of Jesus of Nazareth, it is not true of the Messiah, the Christ,” the Bishop said, noting that the Messiah was foretold at least a 1,000 years or more in Old Testament writings and traditions.
“It is the New Testament, especially the Gospels, that connect all that was planned and foretold about the Messiah with Jesus of Nazareth. Although Jesus was an ‘unknown’ for most of his life, he certainly attracted enough attention in his last three years of life to lift people’s hopes that the Messiah had come and the Messiah was he. But when he died in a most humiliating way, the hopes of his followers that he was anything but the Messiah were dashed.”
Bishop O’Connell emphasized that Good Friday is a remembrance of human life as it is, with death as the end, and that Easter Sunday presents human life as it will be “for those who believe in the Risen Lord.”
“This is about glory and triumph,” Bishop O’Connell said, “and the source of our joy today is that he offers the same triumph and glory to us who believe in him.
“Easter is that moment in the history of the world when the world was changed forever: changed by an obscure Jesus of Nazareth who lived and died but rose to new life, Jesus Christ the Messiah of God,” he said.
Experiences of Easter
Father Jeffrey Lee, St. Mary’s pastor, concelebrated the Mass with Bishop O’Connell. Afterward, as the two greeted parishioners, altar server Jack Schatzle and his dad, Jim, remarked on how meaningful they found the Mass.
“Everything that we professed to believe” regarding Christ’s Passion, Death and Resurrection comes true, Jim Schatzle said.
Noting it was third time he served as an altar server for a Mass with the Bishop, Jack Schatzle, a junior at Christian Brothers Academy, Lincroft, said he was inspired not only to read and study about the events of the life of Christ in his theology classes, but by participating in them he finds it “amazing that you can really understand what it means.”
Parishioner Joann Buhler, who attended the Mass with her husband, Robert, said Holy Week was truly a week that changed the world.
“Easter is the culmination of God’s saving plan for mankind, no matter who you are, what station you have in life and how strong or weak you may be,” she said. “Christ suffered, died and was resurrected for all of us.”
She said Bishop O’Connell was blessed “with an ability to communicate deep elements of faith in a concise, clear way and can make Christ real for anyone.”
Father Lee spoke of the joy it was for his parish community to have Bishop O’Connell celebrate the Easter Mass.
“Bishop O’Connell connects with people,” Father Lee said. “He is approachable and gracious. People really appreciate that.”
PHOTO GALLERY: Easter Sunday Mass in St. Mary Church, Colts Neck
“There is not more significant human expression than faith in Jesus’ Resurrection,” he said. "He didn't just die and come back to life. He was not revived or resuscitated. Jesus' Resurrection is about new life, transformed life, a completely different order of existence."
Bishop O’Connell wrapped up his 2025 Holy Week and Easter schedule with the celebration of the noon Mass in the Colts Neck church, which was filled to capacity with an overflow of congregants seated on folding chairs in the adjacent gathering space.
More to come on this story.
Related Stories
Friday, December 05, 2025
E-Editions
Events
UPDATED 4-22-2025
Emphasizing the significance of Christ’s Resurrection, Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., said that “For all of us, Easter is the heart of our faith – its life, its breath, its everything.
“There is no more significant human expression than faith in Jesus’ Resurrection,” he said. "He didn't just die and come back to life. He was not revived or resuscitated. Jesus' Resurrection is about new life, transformed life, a completely different order of existence."
Bishop O’Connell wrapped up his 2025 Holy Week and Easter schedule by celebrating the noon Mass on Easter, April 20, at St. Mary Church, Colts Neck. His visits throughout the week included St. George, Titusville, Palm Sunday; St. Aloysius, Jackson, Holy Thursday; St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral, Trenton, Good Friday; and Our Lady Queen of Peace, Hainesport, for the Easter Vigil.
Through The Ages
Bishop O’Connell reviewed highpoints of Jesus’ life to a congregation that filled the church to capacity, with the overflow crowd seated on folding chairs in the adjoining gathering space. He said that, other than the story of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem and his appearance in the temple at age 12, the Gospels are largely silent until he appears before John the Baptist in the Jordan River and begins his public ministry around the age of 30.
“Those hidden years of Jesus’ life leave everything to the imagination and to speculation, and while that is true of Jesus of Nazareth, it is not true of the Messiah, the Christ,” the Bishop said, noting that the Messiah was foretold at least a 1,000 years or more in Old Testament writings and traditions.
“It is the New Testament, especially the Gospels, that connect all that was planned and foretold about the Messiah with Jesus of Nazareth. Although Jesus was an ‘unknown’ for most of his life, he certainly attracted enough attention in his last three years of life to lift people’s hopes that the Messiah had come and the Messiah was he. But when he died in a most humiliating way, the hopes of his followers that he was anything but the Messiah were dashed.”
Bishop O’Connell emphasized that Good Friday is a remembrance of human life as it is, with death as the end, and that Easter Sunday presents human life as it will be “for those who believe in the Risen Lord.”
“This is about glory and triumph,” Bishop O’Connell said, “and the source of our joy today is that he offers the same triumph and glory to us who believe in him.
“Easter is that moment in the history of the world when the world was changed forever: changed by an obscure Jesus of Nazareth who lived and died but rose to new life, Jesus Christ the Messiah of God,” he said.
Experiences of Easter
Father Jeffrey Lee, St. Mary’s pastor, concelebrated the Mass with Bishop O’Connell. Afterward, as the two greeted parishioners, altar server Jack Schatzle and his dad, Jim, remarked on how meaningful they found the Mass.
“Everything that we professed to believe” regarding Christ’s Passion, Death and Resurrection comes true, Jim Schatzle said.
Noting it was third time he served as an altar server for a Mass with the Bishop, Jack Schatzle, a junior at Christian Brothers Academy, Lincroft, said he was inspired not only to read and study about the events of the life of Christ in his theology classes, but by participating in them he finds it “amazing that you can really understand what it means.”
Parishioner Joann Buhler, who attended the Mass with her husband, Robert, said Holy Week was truly a week that changed the world.
“Easter is the culmination of God’s saving plan for mankind, no matter who you are, what station you have in life and how strong or weak you may be,” she said. “Christ suffered, died and was resurrected for all of us.”
She said Bishop O’Connell was blessed “with an ability to communicate deep elements of faith in a concise, clear way and can make Christ real for anyone.”
Father Lee spoke of the joy it was for his parish community to have Bishop O’Connell celebrate the Easter Mass.
“Bishop O’Connell connects with people,” Father Lee said. “He is approachable and gracious. People really appreciate that.”
PHOTO GALLERY: Easter Sunday Mass in St. Mary Church, Colts Neck
“There is not more significant human expression than faith in Jesus’ Resurrection,” he said. "He didn't just die and come back to life. He was not revived or resuscitated. Jesus' Resurrection is about new life, transformed life, a completely different order of existence."
Bishop O’Connell wrapped up his 2025 Holy Week and Easter schedule with the celebration of the noon Mass in the Colts Neck church, which was filled to capacity with an overflow of congregants seated on folding chairs in the adjacent gathering space.
More to come on this story.