Easter Sunday (April 12, 2009)
Congratulations! We made it! We have been walking together for 48 days and we finally reached our destination. Today is the best day of the year. Jesus Christ is risen!!! All the pain, all the suffering, finally has meaning. He is the hope that whatever we go through, that no matter how heavy our cross is, we will find the light at the end of our journey.
In today’s gospel, John tells us that Mary of Magdala and two of the disciples were confused when they found the tomb empty. Where was Jesus at this moment? Back in September, I attended the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola. We meditated on this passage and we imagined that at this very moment, when they were looking for Jesus, He was with His Blessed Mother. Even though it’s not in the Bible, it’s so obvious and it makes so much sense that the first person Jesus appeared to would be His Mother.
Close your eyes and imagine this encounter. Imagine the expression in Mary’s face when she sees her Son standing in front of her. Imagine the joy pouring out of every pore of her body and let her joy fill your entire being. Imagine the embrace between them and allow yourself to be embraced as well. Rejoice in this glorious moment, the moment when Mary realizes that her Son had defeated evil and achieved victory for all humanity. Today, the Annunciation and the Resurrection become one.
Jesus was born to die. He died for our sins and then He rose from the dead to save us. Salvation comes through Jesus Christ. Life is not over with death, it’s just a moment of transition that sends us into the next world. The resurrected Christ empowers us to go out into the world. If you go to mass today or the next time you go, listen to the message at the end of the mass: “Our mass is ended, let us go to love and serve the world.” Every mass is a mini resurrection where Jesus sends us into the world.
When we fully understand that life is only a transition path between life and death, the only thing that will truly matter is loving and serving God to get our souls ready for our final encounter with Him.
Jesus Christ is risen!!! He is risen indeed.
I woke up this morning to a beautiful sunrise by the Sea of Galilee. How truly special. I could not have asked for a better Easter gift.
Yesterday, we got on a boat and heard mass in the place where Jesus walked on water. We visited the Church of the Multiplication, built on the spot where Jesus fed more than five thousand with just two pieces of bread and five fish. We stood on the same spot where Jesus asked Peter three times, “do you love me?” We went to Capernaum, known as the town of Jesus because He spent a lot of His time preaching and performing miracles in that area. We visited the house of Peter’s mother-in-law. Of course, it’s in ruins, but a church has been built over it and the floor is made of glass so we were able to see where the actual house stood.
Walking where Jesus walked, getting our feet wet in the Sea of Galilee where Jesus walked on its waters, where He commissioned His disciples, where He performed so many miracles was mind blowing. But more important than all of that was realizing that He did not stay in these places. He is present everywhere. It all started here, in the Holy Land, but it did not stay here. He commissioned His disciples, a group of simple fishermen, from a very humble town, to go out into the world and spread His word. And they did. He is asking the same of us. He gave it all for us. He is asking to give it all for Him. And we should not be afraid to entrust everything to Him, because just like He multiplied two loaves of bread and five small fish, He will multiply all we hold dear into everlasting life.
Happy Easter because He is Risen!!!
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