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Let us
celebrate!
PRAISED BE JESUS
CHRIST!
(Now and Forever)
Welcome to those who for the first time will join our faith
community at the table of the Lord this Easter. Those previously
baptized will do that by receiving the sacrament of reconciliation,
making a profession of faith, the sacrament of confirmation and their
first Communion. Those who have never been baptized become Catholics by
receiving baptism, confirmation and their first Communion at the Easter
Vigil. If my figures are correct, 487 adults are joining the Church.
Easter truly is the day the Lord has made for converts. It should
equally be a time of excitement for each person called upon to renew
baptismal promises during Easter Masses.
The resurrection of Jesus is the keystone of our faith as Catholic
Christians. It is St. Paul who proclaims that if Jesus did not rise from
the dead, our faith is in vain.
We assent to the doctrine. Weekly we recite the Creed that proclaims
that we look for the resurrection of the dead. But, somehow Easter does
not seem to supercharge us as Christmas does.
Perhaps this is a tribute to the power of commercialization. I hope that
is the case. Otherwise, we might be judged insensitive or cynical or
perhaps both. Certainly something is out of socket if Easter is just an
ordinary Sunday.
Easter should bring exhilaration. I do not doubt that will be the case
for those who have experienced the Rite of Christian Initiation for
Adults. But, it should be that for all of us.
The Gospel stories read during the Easter season always fascinate me.
The followers of Jesus thought he was dead. They never thought they
would see him again. The great adventure Jesus had started was over. The
stone had been rolled into place at the door of the tomb and that was
the end of it as far as they were concerned. No doubt they thought to
themselves that they had been foolish to think it could have possibly
been otherwise. The chief priests and the Romans had the power. They had
been naive to think that a carpenter from Nazareth could accomplish
anything against them.
Then came the morning of the first day of the week. The stone had been
rolled back from the entrance of the tomb. The tomb was empty. There
were excursions, rumors and hints of apparitions, people who swore they
had seen Jesus alive. These stories are so familiar to us it’s difficult
to comprehend how dazzling the events were to those who experienced
them. We may even shake our heads in dismay at the “little faith” that
the followers of Jesus exhibited and do so without realizing how small
our own faith is and how unlikely, in the same circumstances, we would
have been to believe stories of resurrection. The penetrating question
is whether we live now as though we believe Jesus has risen.
It had to be the greatest surprise of all time. He who was dead had come
back to life. All the hopes, the expectations, the excitement, the
dreams, the visions were revived with him, at least for those who still
had the capacity for vision and were able to be surprised.
How convinced are we of the Easter truth that not only did Jesus rise
from the dead, but that we too will be raised? We believe it
intellectually, but it seems to me that most of us have a hard time
getting a “feel” for it. What will it be like? God has not chosen to
tell us, perhaps because we couldn’t comprehend it if he did. But we get
some hints from the Easter stories.
Life after resurrection is active, not passive; exciting, not dull;
joyous, not boring; and spectacular rather than uneventful. Jesus moves.
He comes and goes. He is busy. The love for his apostles is even more
obvious, even more powerful than it was before; and his own
attractiveness is even more irresistible. The transformation that comes
with resurrection, mind-boggling as it may be, is not one which negates
the life we have now, but a transformation which fulfills it. What will
the risen life be like? We look to Jesus for a hint and we see a life of
joyous activity.
It is indeed difficult to comprehend. As a matter of faith, we believe
that Jesus rose from the dead and that we will, too. But, we’ve never
been there. It is not so much that we doubt it, it is rather that we
cannot imagine what it will be like. It is precisely the failure of our
imagination which creates a certain propensity for taking Easter in
stride. What will it really be like? The Scripture tells us eye has not
seen nor ear heard the things that God has prepared for those who love
him.
That’s an exhilarating thought. That is a cause for celebrating. And
that’s exactly what St. Paul exhorts us to do on Easter: Let us
celebrate this feast, he writes to the Corinthians. It is true that life
is real, life is earnest, and the grave is not its goal. It is true that
no one is exempt from daily struggles. But for us, as Easter people,
under-girding this and sustaining us is our conviction that we are
called to celebrate, to be joy-filled, to feast at the banquet, because
the Risen Christ is with us forever.
Easter, it seems to me, is much more challenging than Christmas. At
Christmas an infant assures us that God’s love is so great he assumed
human nature to manifest that love for us. On Easter we commit ourselves
to an even stronger love, a love that is so great that it will not let
us “really” die.
Mary Magdalene, who loved Jesus and was loved by him, did not see the
meaning of the empty tomb nor was she able to recognize Jesus when she
first encountered him. It was not that Jesus was disguised, but rather
that Mary was still incapable of seeing him, so incapable in fact that
she confused this man she deeply cared about with a gardener. Only when
Jesus speaks her name with the compassion with which he had spoken it
before is she able to see him and to return to the apostles and announce
with a profound fullness of meaning, “I have seen the Lord.”
The post-resurrection events recorded in Scriptures emphasize the
problem of seeing and yet not really seeing.
Without conversion the same can be true of us. We can go through the
motions without truly seeing the Risen Christ in our lives. We settle
for spiritual mediocrity.
As we celebrate the Easter season, may our prayer be: “Open my eyes to
your risen presence in my life, strengthen my faith, continue to hold me
in the palm of your hand.” |
