In His Light we see Light

 

Easter Sunday – 9 April 2023

Holy Spirit Parish

Acts 10:34a, 37-43

Col 3:1-4

Jn 20:1-9

Alleluia! Resurrexit sicut dixit!

Alleluia! He is risen as He said!

In our first reading from the Acts of the Apostles we heard about the commission from Jesus risen from the dead given to the Apostles. Even yet today after 2000 years, we as Church share their mission, we carry on that work first entrusted to them by the Lord Himself. So! Acts of the Apostles:

“He commissioned us to preach to the people and testify that he is the one appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead. To him all the prophets bear witness, that everyone who believes in him will receive forgiveness of sins through his name.”

“…that everyone who believes in him will receive forgiveness of sins through his name.”

       Obviously when it comes to grasping the Easter event, we have it easier than did the first disciples. For us, as we live the experience of Church, the surprise element which threw them off entirely is gone. Easter is an annual feast for which we can prepare. On this blessed Sunday, we have our Lenten preparation behind us for what the basic teaching about Jesus concerns, plus our annual big penance effort each year so as to have disposed well our hearts and minds for this great news. On this Easter Sunday, a moveable feast in the Church calendar, we can bask in the glorious light of Christ’s victory over sin and death. Unlike Mary Magdalene and the Apostles’ discovery of the empty tomb on this Sunday, Easter does not throw us into confusion or shock us. Despite the interplay of lunar and solar calendars, which move the date from year to year, it does not totally catch us off guard. Without being able to calculate the exact date on our own, we still know what to expect at this time of year.

The good news of the Resurrection cannot find us unprepared as were the first disciples. Our Gospel passage from St. John today ends with the word: “For they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead.” We understand the Scriptures. But we might still ask what makes us clearer in our understanding of the Resurrection than were Peter and John? In a sense you might say that we really may not understand the good news of the Resurrection as deeply and profoundly as did Peter and John. They knew Jesus intimately and were forced to confront the event. Despite our Lenten observance maybe we know Him less so. Can we say that out Lenten prayer and penance has brought us to the tomb to puzzle over the empty burial cloths as did they?

Be confident in the power and grace of faith in your own hearts and lives to move you to the boundless joy which can transform our world and our lives.

Alleluia! Resurrexit sicut dixit!

Alleluia! He is risen as He said!

PROPERANTES ADVENTUM DIEI DEI