Dear Parishioners:
“Do not abandon yourselves to despair. We are the Easter people and hallelujah is our song.” These words of Saint Pope John Paul II certainly speak to us this Easter Sunday. The ongoing pandemic prevents us from celebrating the great feast of our faith together at Mass. It has prevented the initiation of candidates into the Church at the Easter Vigil. We won’t be celebrating Easter Dinner with our family and friends this year. Yes, the joy and glory of Easter seem very muted this year. Despite the Coronavirus Pandemic and the tragic suffering and death we have witnessed these past weeks we must not give into despair. For as a people of faith who believe that Christ rose from the dead and destroyed sin and death, we must resist the temptation to lose hope.
The Psalmist sings on Easter: “This is the day the Lord has made, Let us be glad and rejoice in it!” Yet on that first Easter morning it was neither gladness nor rejoicing that Mary Magdalene experienced as she went three days after the death and burial of Jesus to visit His place of burial. She was full of fear and uncertainty and no doubt much sadness and despair after the event of Good Friday. However, on Easter she arrived to find the Lord not in the tomb. And sent for the apostles to join her. They run to the burial site and enter the tomb and see the burial cloths folded neatly. They see the tomb empty. Their doubt converted into belief! Their despair converted into hope. “Alleluia! He is risen as He said, Alleluia!”
This Easter Sunday is not just an anniversary of that first Easter morning. Nor, is this Easter simply a memorial – a remembrance of that first Easter Sunday morning. Today is Easter. Today is the Day the Lord has made. Today, Christ is Risen! While we must remain safe and isolated in our homes on this Easter Sunday, we are not simply recalling what happened to Jesus, nor the events of the first Easter. We are not simply spectators watching the reactions of the three disciples – Mary Magdalene, Peter and John. Rather, as people of faith and hope this Easter Sunday we share in the triumph and victory of God.
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As the Jesuit poet Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote, “Let Him Easter in us.” We must let the victory and triumph of Easter touch our lives. Today, in the safety of our own homes as we celebrate this most unique of Easter Sundays, we must allow Easter to refresh and renew us with the joy and the triumph that emanates from Christ whom no tomb could hold in death. An ancient symbol for Christian Hope is the anchor. The anchor steadies the vessel and safely holds it secure. The Risen Christ holds us steady when life gets rough. Christ the anchor secures us closely to God when the waves of life crash over us. We are glad and rejoice today because Christ our Hope is Risen! The tomb is empty!!
Easter is the culmination of everything we believe as Christians and the virtue of Easter is hope. Timothy Cardinal Dolan of New York says the best definition of hope is this: “Hope is the virtue that keeps us going when we are tempted to think that Jesus is asleep.” We may be tempted to think the Lord is asleep this Easter given the current crisis and the uncertainty of our future. We might also be tempted to give in to despair and lose hope. Easter calls us to resist such temptations. It celebrates that Christ conquers darkness and despair by his resurrection.
St. Bernard of Clairvaux said: “You can fight with confidence where you are sure of victory. With Christ and for Christ victory is certain!”
Easter reminds us that every Good Friday has an Easter Sunday. With Easter the Risen Christ invites us to share the power of His Resurrection. Each time we love others, we share in the Resurrection. Each time we forgive a betrayal, we share in the Resurrection. Each time we continue to hope – even when our hope seems unanswered – we share in the power of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. In short, the message of Easter is that nothing can defeat us – not pain, sin, rejection or death not even a pandemic – because the Risen Christ conquers all and we too can conquer them if we put our faith and hope in Christ. St. Padre Pio reminds us: “The most beautiful Credo is the one we pronounce in our hour of darkness.”
Be well. Do Good! Stay safe! God Bless. Alleluia, He is Risen!! A Holy and Happy Easter!