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‘This
is the day the Lord has made’
My brothers and
sisters in the Lord:
The Church greets sunrise on Easter morning with the cry: “This is the
day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad” (Easter responsorial
psalm). It isn’t a 24-hour day we greet, however. Rather, it is a period
of 50 days extending to Pentecost, which this year will be celebrated
the weekend of May 27.
The Easter Season is the long “day” of the Lord. The seven Sundays are
the Sundays of, not after, Easter. We are invited to enter into this
extended “day” of celebration with hearts brimming over with Easter joy.
The first reading for the seven weekend Masses of the Easter Season is
taken from the Acts of the Apostles, a journal or diary of the early
Church. The author sets out to show us how the Holy Spirit guided the
apostles. We read how the spirited people who carried out the mission of
Jesus grew into a Church.
The mission of Jesus was handed to the apostles. It has now been given
to us.
Our commission, given in baptism and sealed in the sacrament of
confirmation, is to live our religion with enthusiasm, to reach out to
others, inviting them to join us in professing the fullness of the faith
to which God has called us, and it is to take the values of Jesus Christ
in which we are formed by the Church into our daily lives so that,
through us and our witness to Christ, our world can be transformed by
the saving power of that Christ.
One of our basic responsibilities as Catholics is to be faithful to the
Holy Sacrifice of the Mass each week. Statistics suggest that Catholics
often fail to be faithful to Mass. Perhaps, on average, as few as 26
percent to 28 percent are there week in and week out. Great numbers come
on Easter Day, praise God. Yet, we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus
Christ not just on Easter Sunday, but every Sunday. Sunday is the day
the Lord has made.
Each Lord’s Day, Catholics gather around the table of the Lord in
response to the invitation of Jesus — “Do this in memory of me” — to
hear God’s word and take it to heart. It is his will that we be fed and
nourished by his Body and Blood. We eat and drink. We sing and pray. We
share. We remember.
We gather not to be entertained or for a feel-good trip, but to join
ourselves with the Risen Christ in praising God: Father, Son and Holy
Spirit. We thank the Triune God for the numerous blessings which are
ours. Our bonding to Christ, rooted in baptism, is strengthened and we
seek the strength to be faithful to that baptismal covenant. Through
prayers of petition, we seek his guidance, help and healing. All this is
part of the Easter proclamation with its renewal of baptismal promises.
Our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, has referred several times to the
Tunisian martyrs. They date back to the time of the Roman Empire.
Forty-nine Christians were taken by surprise on Sunday while they were
celebrating the Eucharist in a private home in defiance of a Roman
imperial edict. They were arrested and taken to Carthage to be
interrogated by the Roman governor of that area. Those African ancestors
of ours were asked why they had disobeyed the emperor’s edict. One of
them replied: “Without Sunday Mass we cannot survive.” They were
tortured, then killed.
Our Holy Father has observed that we 21st-century Catholics would do
well to reflect on the experience of the Tunisian martyrs. Even though
we are not under the shadow of imperial prohibitions, it is not easy for
us to live as faithful Catholics. The world in which we find ourselves
can appear a desert, vast and terrible. Instead of Christian values, our
culture is dominated by unbridled commercialism, religious indifference
and secularism. Sexual license has replaced the sense of chastity.
Personal gratification has pushed the value of penance and mortification
off the table. Life lived for the moment has refocused attention away
from eternity to the here and now. To counterbalance this, God makes
himself present to us in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
The Holy Father emphasizes that we are ill-advised if we forget that
“not on bread alone is man to live, but on every utterance that comes
from the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4). We need the Eucharist, he teaches,
to face the fatigue and weariness of our journey. We need its
nourishment. We need the strength it provides in our post-Christian
culture. We need to know that the Lord does not leave us alone. He is
with us. He wishes to share our destiny.
In the tradition of the Catholic Church, it is considered a mortal sin
to absent one’s self from Mass unless there is a most serious reason
such as infirmity, sickness or physical impossibility. It is not a
question of convenience or inconvenience. Mass is to be given top
priority.
But, it is not the obligation to attend Mass that should draw us
together on a weekend. Rather, it is the realization that with the
martyrs of Tunisia we cannot truly live the life of praise and
thanksgiving God calls us to embrace without joining together on the
Lord’s Day to celebrate the Eucharist.
We need to treasure the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. It is the prayer of
Jesus Christ. It is his special moment with us. Shame on us if we
disappoint him by making excuses. Shame on us if we act like we don’t
want to be bothered. Rather, as a community, we need to show him how
much we respect him. We need to participate in the Holy Sacrifice of the
Mass week after week to praise God and thank him. We need to make Mass
the special occasion it is.
During this Easter Season, we welcome the people who became members of
our Local Church at the Easter Vigil and brothers and sisters previously
baptized in other faith traditions who have or will become Catholics
during the Easter Season.
In some parishes, the previously unbaptized wear white garments during
the Easter Season. This clearly identifies them as recent converts or
neophytes. The white garment is an invitation for the rest of us to
welcome them by introducing ourselves and congratulating them on their
completion of the Rites of Christian Initiation. May their “conversion”
experience inspire the rest of us to rededicate ourselves to living our
Catholicism with enthusiasm.
The celebration of “the day the Lord has made” proclaims that we have
crossed from sin to grace and from death to life. This belief is based
on a promise made by Christ himself.
In our prayer, we should tell Christ that we want this passage to be a
reality in our lives. May this truth flood our souls with joy. May we
accept it, overcoming all fear and scruples, trusting him and his
promise, relying on it.
It is my prayer that your Lenten experience and the celebration of the
Easter Season will result in a richer relationship with Christ and a
renewed determination to live your Catholic faith with enthusiasm.. |
