Once our people discover the centrality of Easter in our Christian faith, they will never go back to the limited focus almost exclusively on the suffering and death of Jesus. We have come out of a five hundred period that gave Good Friday so much attention that we almost forgot what were the implications of Easter Sunday.
We are repeating the benefits of the serious Scripture study that has been done during the past one hundred years. When we return to the New Testament, especially to the letters of St. Paul, we realize that he is always talking about the Jesus who poured out his life for humanity in his sacrificial death and the great revelation of the Son of God in the resurrection. Both are part of the same event of revelation and redemption. Jesus died; Jesus was raised from the dead!
The event of our salvation happened on a particular weekend. There was a very tragic ending to the life and mission of Jesus. God completely exploded the power of death and evil by giving us the resurrection. But this was never meant to be only a historical event. It is dynamic. Now, the risen Jesus must come alive in our lives.
The resurrection must always be a “now” event in the lives of the believer.
The English poet, Gerard Manley Hopkins, gave us a great insight when he took the noun ‘Easter’ and made it a verb. In his prayer he commands God that the event of the resurrection now happen in us. Easter in us!
Easter in us in our strong desire to breathe and walk in daily prayer. May we turn often toward you to be in your presence and to listen to you, Risen Jesus.
Easter in us in our love for the poor and the suffering of those right around us. Expand our vision to see who is suffering, excluded and unwanted. Help us never to miss the poor that live so close to us.
Easter in us in our concern for world peace. Be in us in our suffering and anguish over the little people who suffer so much with the invasion of the Ukraine. Be with us in our agony over anyone who suffers violence at the hands of another, especially all the Canadian police officers who have been killed and injured in the line of duty.
Easter in us in our care and ministry for the people who belong to our parish community. May we be as welcoming to one another as you, Jesus, were to the poor and outcasts of your time. May our hearts be bold and loving to one another.
We have a long way to go to re-energize our Easter celebrations, but the first step comes from the command that you, Jesus, risen and alive, must now happen in us, 2023.
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