PD Editorial: Honoring Easter and others through service

Pope Francis chose to celebrate Holy Week this year by breaking tradition. Instead of holding the usual Holy Thursday celebration with priests, the newly ordained head of the Roman Catholic church spent it with inmates at an Italian juvenile jail.

There, he sank to his knees and washed the feet of a dozen youth inmates. Video shows the 76-year-old pontiff washing black feet as well as white feet - male feet as well as female.

"This is a symbol, it is a sign - washing your feet means I am at your service," Francis told the inmates. "Help one another. This is what Jesus teaches us."

Of course, Christians around the world recognize the washing of feet as a symbol of the humble service Jesus performed for his disciples before his betrayal, crucifixion and ultimately, as is celebrated today, his resurrection.

The pope's re-enactment was laudable, particularly for the head of a church that has been challenged on many fronts in recent years.

For the 1.5 billion Christians in the world, Easter is regarded as a hopeful time, a celebration of the teachings of Christ and his promises of redemption and eternal life. But Easter finds Sonoma County celebrating other signs of hope as well.

The county received news on Friday, for example, that its unemployment rate dropped to its lowest level in nearly five years. State data show the jobless rate fell to 7.6 percent in February, according to the Economic Development Department, down from 8.3 percent in January and from 9.4 percent at the same time last year. Just two years ago, it was as high as 11.2 percent.

Meanwhile, housing prices continue to climb while the number of financially distressed properties on the market continues to fall. The median sales price of a home in Sonoma County in February was $380,000, up nearly 22 percent from a year earlier.

Other signs of rebirth are less statistical but are no less significant. They can be seen in the many budding trees, flowering plants and landscapes throughout the county. It's part of a cycle, but it's one that, each spring, provides images that continue to delight.

Still, sometimes it's not the natural things that give us the greatest hope but the courage to do the things that are uncommon - such as reaching out to someone else and offering a simple act of service.

Pope Francis last week encouraged Roman Catholics to "step outside ourselves .

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. in search of the one lost sheep .

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. those who long for a sympathetic ear, those in need of comfort or help." And then he went first.One doesn't have to be a Catholic or even a Christian to see the hope in that.

And then he went first.

One doesn't have to be a Catholic or even a Christian to see the hope in that.