Saturday, April 4, 2015

4/5/2015 – Easter Sunday – John 20:1-9 -

      Our masses this weekend are a very important moment in our Church’s liturgical year and in our journey as Christians.  We have been preparing for many weeks all during the Holy Season of Lent for this day – that long period of preparation shows how important this day is to us.  We celebrate the risen Lord today – we celebrate Christ as our Savior and Redeemer.
       I always enjoy looking at the history of words and traditions that we have in our faith, so I wondered: Where does the word “Easter” come from?  The word “Easter” comes from an Old English word that means the “East”. Think of the sun that rises from the East, bringing us light, warmth, hope, and a new day.  The sun rising in the East is a symbol of the Risen Christ – Christ who is the light of our world, the light of our lives.  Last night, at the Easter Vigil mass, we lit the Paschal candle in the darkness of the night from the Easter fire.  The light of the Paschal candle, the light of Jesus, entered the darkness of the church, the darkness of the tomb.  The Paschal candle will be kept by the altar area during the 50 days of the Easter season.   Christ the light is indeed with us in a special way during this time of the liturgical year.
       When we were reading the Passion of the Lord from the Gospel of John in our Good Friday liturgy, I was drawn to the words that recounted how the Virgin Mary, Mary of Clopas, Mary of Magdala, and the beloved disciple John all were there at the cross as Jesus was crucified.  In our Easter Gospel message, it is the same Mary Magdala who comes to the tomb early in the morning, presumably to anoint Jesus’ body.  When she finds the tomb empty, she runs off to tell Simon Peter and the beloved disciple about what she had just found.  Were these disciples afraid of what they had seen?  They had witnessed the death of Jesus – their friend, their Savior, their great teacher.  They had witnessed his violent death on the cross.  Did they think about the heavy stone that would block them entry into the tomb? Did they think of the other obstacles they would encounter?  Of the Roman soldiers who might arrest them or put them to death?  The answer is probably yes.  They were probably very frightened by what they had just seen.  They were probably very aware of the obstacles and dangers they themselves would face.  They could have fled into hiding.   But they chose not to.  And while we, as modern day Christians, have an understanding both in our hearts and our minds what the resurrection of Jesus is about, Mary of Magdala and the beloved disciple were just getting a glimpse of what the resurrection might be about.  Yet, their fears and obstacles did not prevent them from believing in Jesus.  They did not prevent them from being loyal to him even as he lay in the tomb.  The beloved disciple still had not taken everything in, still had not understood what had happened, but Gospel reports that “he saw and believed”.
       Sometimes our actions say a lot.  I was very edified by what I saw in our parish this Lenten season.  I saw many of you taking your Lenten promises very seriously.  We had great attendance at our daily masses and Stations of the Cross and other Lenten devotions.  Beyond that, I feel a really good energy in our parish right now. At the end of this month, we will mark the one year anniversary of the tornado that tore through our city and that did a lot of damage to our church and to many of our parishioners.  So many parishioners have worked so hard to make the needed repairs and to get our church back on track.  The two weeks leading up to Holy Week, there was a big effort to refresh our church with paint and cleaning and new floor, and the results have been amazing.  It shows the great love and dedication so many people have for our parish.  Living out our faith, living out the joy of the resurrection, and being a part of the community – that is a big part of the Easter message.  The first thing Mary Magdala did when she encountered the empty tomb was to go out and to and tell the other members of the community.   Our Catholic faith has never been about living it out individually or in isolation – it is about being a part of the community.  Think about how the resurrection message of Easter is calling out to you today, how it is calling out to you to be a more involved part of our community.  Pope Francis wants us to be a warm, inviting, diverse and joy-filled Church where all are welcome to be disciples of Christ, where we in turn go out and make disciples, where we proclaim the kingdom of God to all.  And that is what we want to be here at St James.  This Easter morning, Christ has conquered death, he grants us new life, he grants us his peace.   Let us be a part of this Easter message of joy!

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