“Are we an Easter people?” by Tim Margiotta, Fiat Ventures
Easter Sunday
“We are an Easter People and Alleluia is our song!” These words were spoken by St. John Paul II in November of 1986 to a group of people in Adelaide, Australia. This week, as we celebrate the triumph and victory of Jesus Christ over sin and death we need to pause and ask ourselves, am I a reflection of the Easter people to all those around me? Do my co-workers, family, friends and strangers encounter someone living in the hope and joy of Easter in my interactions with them? Now I am not referring to a superficial happiness that comes from having a few days off around Easter time, eating multiple Cadbury eggs and finally being able to put aside our Lenten sacrifices. No, I am referring to a permanent and permeating vision of hope that has been gifted to us through the miracle of the resurrection of Jesus.
Because of the suffering and resurrection of Christ we have hope that we can one day be in eternal life with Him. Our shortcomings, failures, and sinful habits fade away in the shadow of this awesome act of love that’s God’s son has done for us. But even beyond the hope that we now have and the joy that it should bring us, one of the biggest gifts of the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus is the gift of suffering…yes you read that right, suffering.
How many of you know family and friends who have gone through tragedy, sickness, unemployment and hardship without faith and ultimately Christ as part of it? What emptiness, anger and despair accompany such difficulties when there is no hope of the resurrection – when there is no growth and purpose to it all. Through Christ’s passion he has brought purpose to our sufferings and enables us to unite our suffering with His and journey with Him through the passion. By offering up our suffering and seeking His will through it all he is able to accomplish in us and through us amazing things as we carry our crosses. Now how many of us know family and friends who have gone through similar tragedies and difficulties but kept Christ as their rock and journeyed with eyes of faith? How much life these sufferings can bring when carried as an Easter people! This idea of joy in suffering and uniting ourselves with Christ’s passion is incomprehensible by today’s world.
To end where I began, are you a strong representative of the Easter people? Does your life cause people to be inquisitive about your unexplainable joy, hope, peace, and attitude towards the sufferings of this life? If we recognize shortcomings in this area let us together pray during this Easter season that God would shower his grace upon us and transform us into strong witnesses of the life he calls all of us to have – the life of the Easter people who encounter Jesus not in the tomb, but alive and well and in the fabric of everything we do. Together we pray, Alleluia! He is Risen!
