Another Lent has passed, its passage fast. On this Easter morning, we might ask ourselves, "Where did it go? How did I do?" But another question greets us: "How does the Light of the Risen Lord help me see all things anew and to love afresh in God?"
Our gospel readings at the Easter Vigil Mass and in all the Masses this Easter Sunday propose an answer. We find it in the wondrous truth the evangelists proclaim: the tomb is empty; Jesus Christ is risen!
Indeed, everything we struggled to do aright in Lent, and every hope and desire we enacted in our everyday ordinariness, even when they have failed, come together in this truth. Peter recognized this when, after running to the tomb, he bent down and saw only the burial clothes and was amazed by this reality (Luke 24:12). Jesus is alive! Easter joy calls you and me to be amazed by this truth too.
If we are honest enough, we will acknowledge that we are amazed because we already experience this truth alive and real in our lives. Each of us will have had especial encounters with Jesus’ presence. Of these, the Eucharist is that singular shared experience that binds us together as a Catholic Christian faith community.
Our celebration of the Eucharist invites us to confess the living presence of Jesus. His gift of his body and blood cannot help but amaze and overwhelm us. It must because this is scandalous love: Jesus is really present in our midst. What is even more scandalous is that Jesus offers himself to us--no matter whether we are sinner or saint--as daily bread to nourish our union with God and one another. We witness to and claim this truth most especially when we sometimes receive the Eucharist, even as we are aware that we need to right our faults with God and others. Now, isn’t this proof enough that the Spirit of the Risen Lord lives and moves and works within us for our wellbeing?
I believe this is what we celebrate at Easter. Through Jesus’ resurrection, God transfigures us to now live in his Spirit. With Jesus alive in our midst, we can continue working at transforming ourselves with hope. And in Jesus, God guarantees that our efforts, including those Lenten ones that seemingly did not bear fruit, will lead us into new life with Him and one another. This is the kind of light Easter shines into our lives. It illumines how we should see all things anew and how we ought to love afresh in God. I pray this Easter light will be yours too.
In the coming days, let us practise this new way of living, which we confess is Christian. Let us wish each other, including our enemies, “Happy Easter,” so as to live the Easter hope of God’s presence in our midst. Let us continue reaching out to others in need, so that we will help all experience the Easter joy of God’s love. Let us we return to God when we sin, so that we and our world can savour the fullness of Easter, new life in God and with all creation. That we can do all this will be testimony to what we celebrate at Easter, the Risen Lord Jesus is alive! He is with us and for us!
Happy Easter, dear reader.
artwork: Apostles Peter and John running to the tomb by Eugène Burnand, 1898
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