The first memory I have of Easter Sunday is diving into an Easter basket – pushing aside the eggs – to get right to the chocolate! I remember my father asking me, “Did you see the Easter Bunny?” Never lacking for imagination, I replied with great certainty: “Yes I did, and the Easter Bunny was purple!” When I think back on that moment, I am always amazed that what I created in my mind was so implausible – a purple bunny!
Unlike my imagined “purple bunny,” our global village has been dealing with the implausible and unimaginable as Covid-19 swept the world and challenged pre-conceived notions of reality.
Sometimes, when we think of the resurrection of Jesus, we perhaps wonder: “How is that really plausible? How is it possible?” BUT unlike the purple Easter Bunny, and like Covid-19, it really DID happen! As followers of Jesus, we stake our whole belief – our whole life – on the certainty of Jesus resurrection, and now is the time to strengthen our trust in the living God who brings
– hope in dire times
– life in the midst of death
– light, which overcomes darkness
We have lived the Sundays of Lent in a new way and celebrated the Sacred Triduum for the first time in our lives without the support of communal liturgy. The truth is, now we may be tempted to move on – to go back to our ordinary way of life. But, nothing is further from the truth!
Now is the time to reflect on what we have experienced and integrate our insights with our faith that binds us to God and to one another. It is a time to comprehend all the events of Jesus’ life, especially those of Holy Week and Easter, as guideposts for living lives that reflect our unshakable belief that God, who raised Jesus from the dead, will be with us in all the challenges of this present existence.
The post Easter Days are the Times to Remember
– the call to service in the washing of the feet and the sharing of the bread on Holy Thursday as our call to be at the service of those who need us now!
– Our watching with Jesus on Good Friday who voluntarily surrendered his life into the hands of his Abba God – in faithfulness unto death as our reminder to be near to those who are suffering loss!
– The extraordinary revelation that Jesus is alive in the glory of God as hope in our own lives and our message to all that we are a post resurrection people!
Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday are not three distinct short stories with three distinct endings. The resurrection includes all the events of Jesus’ life and, at the same time, proclaims something new – here and now – today and each day to come. The Gospel story that we receive on Easter morning is not about something that happened more than 2,000 years ago. It is about today –
– About this very moment
– About the fact that we are the ones now called to see and believe
– That we are the ones empowered with the new life of Jesus
This new life calls us to go out into the world and embrace all of creation – to live the Gospel today – to live it every day. We are called to a new way of life for on Easter Sunday, everything is changed.
Sr. Ann Weber, OCD