Easter Sunday—16
April AD 2017
Ave Maria!
“This is the day which the Lord hath made:
let us be glad and rejoice therein.”[1]
[Ordinary of the Mass]
[ Mass Text-Latin]
[Mass Text-English]
Please allow me to wish you a happy Easter—for it should be a season of happiness and rejoicing. And let me thank all those of you that contributed in one way or another toward the solemnity of this celebration—your efforts are certainly appreciated—our Lord knows who you are.
Hopefully, you have all made a pretty good Lent, and understand the nature of this feast, either through your reading of the Sacred Scriptures or by having participated in the Masses of Lent and Holy Week. If you have done these things, then you understand something of the joy that a Holy Easter brings.
It is possible though that the joy of the season still remains a bit one sided. Christ has done so much for us that we find it difficult if not impossible to respond in turn. We were inescapably mired in sin; He humbled Himself beyond all reason to become one of us; He shared our human existence; He suffered and died for us; and He carried us with Him out of the grave in His resurrection on Easter Sunday, conquering sin and death.
And, lest we forget, directly linked to this redemptive sacrifice on the Cross, He gave us His body and blood for our spiritual nourishment; He empowered His priests to renew His sacrifice across the barriers of time and space, so we can be at the foot of the Cross with His Virgin Mother in Holy Mass; He now dwells with us in all the tabernacles of the world, eagerly awaiting our visit. He has given us His flesh to eat and His blood to drink under the appearances of bread and wine.
We might ask ourselves: “Why would God do such things for mere sinful creatures like ourselves?” Certainly, He owed us none of this—justice did not oblige Him at all in our regard. And it wasn't contempt, and probably not even pity, for such motives would probably have led Him to annihilate us. The only motive that makes any sense is love. Love does such things. God did all of these things for us because He loves us.
Now, we might go back over our Lenten observance and ask ourselves how we might do a bit more for God in return next year. We might put a little more effort and a little more honesty into our fasting. And we might discipline ourselves to a bit more spiritual reading. We might be a little more generous with the poor. But, no matter how much more we do along these lines, the joy of the season will still be one-sided. The only thing we can do that will bring it more into balance is to show God more of our love.
And people often have trouble doing that. They say to themselves that “God is too abstract to love very much, He is too far away; to distant.”
But, if that is true, this Easter day is precisely the proper time to turn that feeling around. For, if anything, during the past forty or fifty days Jesus has been as close to us as it is possible for God to get to His creatures. We have seen Him heal our blind and lame comrades; we have seen Him multiply loaves to feed the crowds; we have accompanied Him on His triumphal procession into Jerusalem; we have tasted His very body and blood; we have seen Him lay down His life for our salvation. Our God is not far away; He is not abstract or distant.
Today is Easter Sunday. “This is the day that the Lord hath made, let us be glad and rejoice in it.” Let us who have received God's love share it with each other and with those who have not received it—for love is something that we cannot do in isolation. Perhaps in this way, by loving each other, we will come to love the God who left no good deed undone to show us His love.
Jesus Christ is truly risen from the dead! Enjoy loving God as well as being loved by Him! Happy Easter!
