Readings:
Acts 10:34, 37-43; Col. 3:1-4; Jn. 20:1-9
It
doesn’t Feel Like Easter Sunday, but Christ is Risen, Alleluia!
Today is Easter
Sunday, but it doesn’t feel like it. It is like we are in Good Friday. Or it is
like Christ is risen and we are waiting for the angel to roll the stone away,
so that we may be released from the darkness of the grave. Now more than ever,
we feel like the Apostles of Christ who ran to the Upper Room while waiting for
the Spirit to open the doors and set us free. Only that our Upper Room is our
homes, instead of the Jews, we are afraid of coronavirus. But Christ is
risen!
The day of the
resurrection was a very confusing day indeed. No one expected Christ to rise
from the dead. Yes, He told them he would, but they couldn’t believe it! Mary
panicked when she did not find the body of Jesus in the tomb. Peter and John
were befuddled when she told them, “They have taken the Lord from the
tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him.” They too went to the
tomb, saw the burial clothes neatly folded and put aside, but Him, they did not
see. Could it be true? They recalled he had told them that “…he must go
to Jerusalem and suffer greatly from the elders, the chief priests, and the
scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised.” (Mt.16:21). Yet
when John saw the empty tomb, he believed. The guards too saw it. But they were
bribed to lie that “his disciples came by night and stole him while we
were sleeping.” (Mt. 28:13). Everyone saw, but not everyone believed.
It is easy to see with our eyes; to believe, we must have faith. Seeing
is nothing, believing is everything. It is when we believe that we see;
for we walk by faith not by sight.
The resurrection
of Christ demonstrates that we are Easter people living today in a Good Friday
world, lockdown by coronavirus pandemic. Yes, we may be content to watch
live-streamed Mass of the resurrection, but we must feel him in our hearts and
in our souls, this year more than ever. We are still broken; have
weaknesses, anger issues, be short-tempered, stubborn, jealous, ill-mannered,
frustrated and still experience the vicissitude of life. But the
resurrection of Christ assures us that God loves us, and that Christ has
conquered our weaknesses and death in all its ramifications. Yes, to every Good
Friday there is an Easter Sunday. To every failure there is strength in
the risen Lord. Every hurt and wrong doing we are able to forgive is a prove of
the resurrection of Christ. When we give in charity, say kind words,
console, show compassion and mercy; every visit to the sick or kindness shown
to the downtrodden attest to the resurrection and our faith in the risen Lord.
We may be weak, but our risen Lord is strong. He is always by our side urging
us on. We are Easter people and so cannot stop singing alleluia.
According to Paul: “If then you were raised with Christ, seek what is
above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.” (Col. 3:1).
Because Christ is alive today, we can see tomorrow. “He will change our
lowly body to conform with his glorified body by the power that enables him
also to bring all things into subjection to himself.” (Philippians 3:21).
The resurrection changed Peter from being a coward to a fearless preacher; He
can also change us if we truly believe in Him. Jesus’ resurrection is an
invitation to share in his eternal life. He showed Thomas his wounded hands and
side and healed his unbelief. We must touch his wounds so that we may be healed.
The resurrection
of Christ taught us once more that adversity always brings out the best in
mankind. Coronavirus, like our collective will to do evil and hurt humanity,
cannot keep Christ in the grave for more than three days. We know that
this too shall pass. Though we do not know what tomorrow holds, we know who
holds tomorrow. We know that Christ has risen and so we rejoice! We
must rejoice that we are able to stay in the safety of our homes and watch Mass
live-streamed through the various social media platforms. We pray that when
this is all over, we may begin to see things and people differently, that we
may have a better understanding of the teaching of Christ, that we may be more
generous, prayerful, gracious, forgiving, loving, tolerant and accommodating.
May we have the same experience that the Apostles had when they emerged from
the Upper Room; that filled with the Spirit of the risen Lord, we may speak the
word of God boldly, so that those who hear us will say, “Are not all
these people who are speaking Galileans? Then how does each of us hear them in
his own native language? …yet we hear them speaking in our own tongues of the
mighty acts of God.” (Acts 7-11). Rejoice for Christ is truly risen.
Alleluia!
No comments:
Post a Comment