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He is
risen, alleluia!
PRAISED BE JESUS
CHRIST!
(Now and Forever)
Easter celebrates the pivotal moment in human history. The responsorial
psalm for the Mass on Easter Sunday sums it up: “This is the day the
Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad.”
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the great and distinctive article of
our faith. We profess it every week when we proclaim our faith in the
Nicene Creed: “… On the third day he rose again in fulfillment of the
Scriptures …”
Easter is so special, the Church celebrates it for 50 days. In fact, the
story of the resurrection is so central to our faith that every Sunday
of the year is a “mini” Easter. We do not keep holy the Sabbath or the
seventh day of the week on which God rested after the work of the “six
days” of creation, but the first day of the week in commemoration of the
resurrection of Jesus. So, St. Ignatius of Antioch (110 A.D.) wrote:
“Those who lived according to the old order of things have come to a new
hope, no longer keeping the Sabbath, but the Lord’s Day, in which our
life is blessed by him and by his death.” And, the Catechism of the
Catholic Church instructs (2176): “The celebration of Sunday
observes the moral commandment inscribed by nature in the human heart to
render to God an outward, visible, public and regular worship ‘as a sign
of his universal beneficence to all (St. Thomas Aquinas).’ Sunday
worship fulfills the moral command of the Old Covenant, taking up its
rhythm and spirit in the weekly celebration of the Creator and Redeemer
of his people.”
Alleluia might be called Easter’s call-letters. The word (Halleluja)
comes from Hebrew and means “Yahweh be praised.” It’s a word used
extensively in the psalms as a doxology (prayer which gives praise and
glory to God) and appears in the New Testament as well as early Church
texts. Eliminated from the liturgy on Ash Wednesday, it thunders back
during the Easter Vigil and remains a constant reminder that Easter
celebrates conviction that Jesus Christ is Lord, the one who has died,
has risen, and who will come again. This is at the very heart and center
of our faith. We believe that Jesus of Nazareth, the eternal Son of the
Father, suffered deep human pain, even death itself, that we might be
freed from the shackles of sin and be able to fulfill the eternal
destiny intended by the Creator from the beginning.
During the Easter Season, the phrase paschal mystery is often
encountered. It refers to Christ’s work of redemption accomplished
principally by his passion, death, resurrection and ascension. The
Catechism of the Catholic Church instructs that the paschal mystery
is celebrated and made present in the liturgy of the Church, and its
saving effects are communicated through the sacraments, especially the
Eucharist, which renews the paschal sacrifice of Christ as the sacrifice
offered by the Church.
The 50-day Easter Season comes to an end on Pentecost Sunday, which
commemorates the giving of the Holy Spirit to the apostles, the
beginnings of the Church and its mission to every tongue and people and
nation.
Easter is a season of joy. That joy is rooted in the conviction that
Jesus is not only alive, but he lives with us now in the Church
in word and sacrament. He abides within us through the presence and the
power of his Holy Spirit. He is present when we gather in his name. And,
noting how Jesus describes the last judgment in Matthew 25, he is
present especially in the poor, the sick and the needy.
The sacraments of initiation (baptism, confirmation and Eucharist) are
not limited to the Easter Season, but Easter is prime time for the
celebration of those sacraments. A total of 505 people took part in the
RCIA Rite of Election and Call to Continuing Conversion in our cathedral
church on the first and second Sundays of Lent. During the Easter
Season, we welcome these brothers and sisters into full membership in
the Church. The sacrament of confirmation, too, will be administered to
approximately 1,000 young people between now and the feast of Pentecost.
And, in most parishes, children will make their first Communion.
Baptism, of course, is the first sacrament of initiation. Confirmation
completes baptism. Communion (the Eucharist) is the sacrament that
completes our initiation as members of the Church. While baptism and
confirmation are received only once, the celebration of the Eucharist is
ongoing. This tells us, of course, that our call to conversion continues
until the moment of death. In fact, Holy Communion or viaticum is viewed
as the last sacrament. These sacraments of initiation bring excitement
to the Easter Season.
The second reading for the Mass on Easter is taken from the Letter of
St. Paul to the Colossians. Paul instructs: “Be intent on things above
rather than things of earth. After all, you have died! Your life is
hidden now with Christ in God. When Christ appears, then you shall be
with him in glory.”
These words of Paul tell us that those bonded to Christ Jesus in baptism
are called to participate in the paschal mystery. That means that we are
to imitate Jesus and his passage from suffering and death to life. This
is expressed when we say or sing, “If we die with the Lord, we will live
with the Lord. If we endure with the Lord, we shall reign with the
Lord.”
Our dying is not limited to the final moments of life on this earth,
however. Our sufferings of ill health, our mental and emotional
struggles, our temptations and trials, whatever pricks our pride or
assails our inclinations to lust can be moments when we identify with
Christ and his dying. Every time I deny myself the luxury of laziness,
anger or pettiness, every time I put others and God ahead of myself, I
identify with Christ and the paschal mystery of which Paul speaks.
In our struggles we find peace and comfort in the sure knowledge that
the living Lord is with us, and we find deep hope and peace in the sure
knowledge that the Lord is holding out for us the crown of victory, life
everlasting.
This is the Easter proclamation. This is the conviction our Catholic
faith urges us to embrace. This is why Alleluia is part of our
liturgy. The sacraments of initiation call us to be faithful to Jesus
Christ who has redeemed us and to Father, Son and Holy Spirit from whom
all blessings flow.
My very best to you as we enter the Easter Season. The Lord has indeed
risen, alleluia. Glory and kingship be his for ever and ever (Easter
Entrance Antiphon). |
