The following excerpt is from a 2017 Easter message
by Fr. John Lynch at http://www.cny.org/stories/the-risen-friend-in-our-midst,15417?.
As a side note, when Matt Talbot is grouped with other holy people as
examples in a homily, article, or book, one might note what
characteristics the group might share or represent, which is evident
here.
“...No two lives are alike. The 20th
century saw countless men and women who lived their friendship with Christ in
vastly different ways, people like Dorothy Day, St. Maximilian Kolbe, St. Teresa of the Missionaries of Charity, St. John
Paul II or a recovered alcoholic named Matt Talbot. Some of them wandered far
away before they came home to their Friend. But home they came, to know the joy
of his forgiveness.
Your life is different as well. You may know poverty
or wealth, have a host of friends or a handful, be healthy or chronically ill,
enjoy fame or live in obscurity.
Against the background of eternity, none of this
matters. What does matter is that the Easter message comes to life in your
heart. Christ, God’s Son and your Brother, lives. Here, today. He is your
Friend. As you say “I do” to the promises, and sing the Great Amen at the end of
the Eucharistic prayer, I hope you will give those words this meaning: “Lord,
you are my Friend. I am yours. And, from this moment on, my life, here each
Sunday and holy day, out there each weekday, will prove it.”
If this is what you mean, if you live as a friend of
your crucified and victorious Lord, your Easter is happy. It will be
forever...”