Easter Sunday
Have you ever heard this quote before? “Do not abandon yourselves to despair.
We are the Easter people and alleluia is our song!” I think St. Pope John Paul II was on to something here.
Now, I don’t know about you but Lent is usually a really hard journey for me, even though it’s fruitful. For 40 days, we’ve been preparing heart, mind, body and soul for Easter Sunday. Everyone prepares differently during Lent, so maybe this year yours has been especially difficult…or ironically maybe it’s felt like a “piece of cake”. For me personally, during this Lenten season I’ve been focusing a lot on my own weaknesses. That can get discouraging, but I’m reminded that all of us have brokenness and frailties, and it’s together that we journey toward the Cross throughout Lent.
I had the realization that we are a “people” on the other side of Easter too. St. John Paul II didn’t say “You are an Easter person,” but rather “We are an Easter People”. We go through trials together as a people, and we rejoice together in Christ’s victory. Jesus wants to unite us together through our sufferings and our joys, just as he did with the disciples after his death and resurrection.
In Easter Sunday’s Gospel passage we see that Mary Magdalene goes to Jesus’ tomb to find that the stone has been rolled away and the guards who kept watch over Jesus’ body were not there. In all her shock, she runs to Peter and the other disciples to tell them that Jesus’ body has been moved. We see this when John writes, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.”
Now when the disciples all come to the tomb, they do not enter until Peter goes in to examine it. But once the other disciples go in, it is revealed to them that Jesus has been raised from the dead. All four Gospel accounts tell of an angel proclaiming to the disciples that Jesus has been raised from the dead and he is no longer in his tomb! And they all rejoice together as a community.
So today let our hearts cry out to our Lord just as the disciples did in joy and amazement, Alleluia! Alleluia! He is risen! For we are an Easter people, a Christian family that stands together in truth, hope and love. We are called to be a witness to Jesus in the world, and we’re most effective at that when we do it together.
So this Easter, celebrate with your family and friends. Go to Mass together, and rejoice together in the resurrection. And over the next year when the tough times and rough patches come, be there for one another as a support. We’re all in this together, so let us rejoice and be glad that we share this one faith together in our Lord, Jesus Christ.
Photo credit: Kimber Shaw-Flickr
