Easter

 Acts 10:34a, 37-43

Ps 118: 1-2, 16-17, 22-23

Col 3:1-4

Jn 20:1-9

 

 

“This is the day the Lord has made; 

let us rejoice and be glad.” 

 

These joyful words have been circling the globe for hours. First in Australia, then Taiwan and the Churches of Mainland China.  After passing through Asia and Russia they were proclaimed in Poland, Slovenia and England while the East Coast of the United States was barely waking up. An then they swept across North and South America in churches, monasteries, and convents as the celebration completed its global orbit.  

 

The words from the psalm were repeated in: Mandarin, Fujianese, Swahili, Tagalog, Slovenian, Croatian, Portuguese, French, English, and every other tongue in the known world, as the news of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead is proclaimed yet again. 

 

The first reading from the Acts of the Apostles summarized Jesus’ life from His baptism to His death on the cross.  We heard the commission to the apostles to preach the message of salvation.  It is the same commission we received: Preach the message of salvation through Jesus!  Proclaim the Gospel of the Lord. 

 

That message is the reason we are to rejoice and be glad.  Jesus is the one set apart, a root meaning of the word holy. Those who believe in him have  forgiveness of sins through His name. 

 

As St. Paul so memorably wrote to the Romans:  “God showed his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.”  While we were yet sinners Christ died for us.  Jesus, fully Divine and fully human, Son of God and Son of Mary, like us in all things but sin, died for our sins, because of our sins, and to save us from those sins.  We are sinners.  But, we are sinners passionately loved by God.  We are redeemed by Jesus’ passion and death in a redemption made manifest in His resurrection from the dead.  What more can we say than “This is the day the Lord has made; 

let us rejoice and be glad.” 

 

In the proclamation of John’s Gospel we heard of the disciple’s astonishment, confusion, sorrow, and fear upon discovering that the tomb, in which Jesus had been placed, was empty. The burial cloths were rolled up and lying off to the side.  The last line of this Gospel reading is instructive:  “Remember, as yet they did not understand the Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.”  They did not yet understand.  Despite the years that they had followed Him the disciples did not really understand who this Jesus was.  But that was going to change at Pentecost when the Holy Spirit descended.

 

The apostle’s confusion and lack of understanding of Jesus mirrors our situation.  Despite Jesus’ action in our lives, we don’t always understand.  Unlike the apostles who lived the events told here in real time we have scripture and the tradition of the Church to instruct us and help us understand.  Still, we don’t always get it.  We sometimes fail to understand how great a gift Jesus is to us. We sometimes fail to appreciate the gift he gave us.  We sometimes reject that gift outright. Thus, it is today, and every day, we are called to pray, to meditate on scripture and to receive the Sacred Body and Blood of Christ so that unlike the apostles, we will understand, we will see, and, through understanding and seeing,  we will believe. 

 

The words repeated while inscribing the paschal candle  are a very short catechism.  

 

“Christ yesterday and today

the beginning and the end. 

Alpha and Omega; 

all time belongs to him, 

and all the ages; 

to him be glory and power, 

through every age for ever.” 

 

“This is the day the Lord has made, 

let us rejoice and be glad.” 

 

 

Alleluia

Alleluia

Alleluia. 

______________________________________

An extraordinary night.  Over the past eight months I've been instructing a physician colleague to prepare him for baptism, confirmation, and communion in the Church.  It was quite a journey in which he pushed me.  I joked after Mass that he cost me at least $100 in books.  Four were baptized at St. Ignatius last night.  I had the joy of baptizing Tony.  Was going to post this homily last night but didn't have the energy to hold the computer let alone do anything with it.  

One of my favorite still-life shots taken in a tiny sacristy in a cloistered monastery.  I knew this was going to be black and white the moment the camera arrived in front of my eye.  

The small private chapel in which I celebrate Mass when visiting there.  I had just set up for Mass but had not yet started.  I will drive to the monastery in eight days to spend the week catching up with work. 

Have a most Blessed Easter.  

+ Fr. Jack, SJ, MD