Alleluia, He is risen!
On this Easter day
we gather to proclaim
that from the tomb of violence, crucifixion and death Christ sheds His grave cloths
Like a butterfly sheds a cocoon
He emerges, our winged hope,
an elegant embodiment of a new vision for humanity.
In this time of Easter
help us to recognize the Risen One in our midst
that our hearts might stir once more
with possibilities of resurrection
and fresh songs of hope.
– Bruce Sanguin
Love seeks out its beloved and Mary Magdala goes out, spices in hand.
The gospel announces that something new must be about to take place. “On the first day of the week.” The earth is in darkness. In this setting, a faithful woman journeys to her place of mourning, wanting at least to embalm his dead body.
Alone in the darkness of her grief, she made her way to the grave where her hopes had so recently been buried with her Teacher. She finds his grave empty and runs back to Peter and the beloved disciple and tells them the tomb is empty and someone must have taken the Lord out of the tomb. It is still dark; this means that she has not yet seen the light.
The two disciples race off together, towards the tomb. Peter enters the empty tomb, sees the linens that had covered the body of Jesus, but does not understand. The beloved disciple, propelled by love, understands the significance of the events. He believes in the resurrection before he experiences the presence of the risen Christ. The beloved disciple, love, enters. Love grasps the mystery.
Mary’s love caused her to mourn; to remain near the tomb in that place of emptiness, to search for at least the dead body of Jesus. It is then that Jesus appears to her, but she does not recognize him. He speaks her name which expresses his personal relationship with her. She calls him Teacher and wants to cling to him. Now when she returns in joy to the disciples, her message is not one of an empty tomb but a RISEN CHRIST whom she now calls “Lord”.
St. John has avoided using the word Lord in his Gospel till now. It is only now in the light of the resurrection that they begin to understand who he really is.
Mary moved from dark mourning to be the one to announce the resurrection. Love is the eye. Love pre-disposes one to trust, to believe. It is what lets us see and understand the resurrection. It is truly those who love the deepest, who see the Lord. Peter sees but does not see; John, the beloved, sees nothing but sees everything.
St. John says that “as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead.” Clearly despite the teaching of Christ and the Old testament Scriptures, the disciples did not expect Jesus to rise from the dead. After they experience the presence of the resurrected Christ, they went to the scripture and to their memory of Christ’s teaching and understood it, for the first time.
The Word of God in the scriptures only has real meaning because it clarifies what God has already revealed in your life experience and in your heart.
We see death and new life in nature, but we can also see it in our own lives if we are reflective. Perhaps I have experienced a forgiveness that surprised me, and my relationship is stronger than ever. Perhaps you have lost your spouse or your closest friend. Yet God’s blessings are not finished. No condition, no trial or cross can be stronger than the love of Christ which heals and brings the fullness of life.
If you can find the hand of this life-giving God in your own life, then you are able to read the scriptures and say; “Yes this word confirms my own experience of God.”
It is the resurrection that we experience in our lives that makes the promises of God in Scripture not just words but a source of joy and hope.
We do not see Christ, yet we believe in him. We believe that he rose from the dead, that his is alive and living in our hearts, that we are united with him in the Eucharist that we celebrate, and we his Oblate community are his body.
Alleluia! He is Risen!
By Ken Forster, OMI
An Easter Prayer
I wish that we could all have Easter eyes
Capable of looking
into death, until we see life
into the hurts, until we see forgiveness,
into separation, until we see unity,
into the wounds, until we see glory,
into the human person, until we see God,
into God, until we see the human person,
into Myself until I see You.
And in addition to this, to see the power of Easter!
Bishop Klaus Hemmerle, “La luce dentro le cose”
