Yesterday, Easter Sunday, the day Our Lord returned from the dead. A day of supreme joy, of celebration, a day that we sing Hallelujah. As part of Mass yesterday the Victimae pascahli laudes was sung.
Christians, to the Paschal victim
Offer your thankful praises!
A Lamb the sheep redeems:
Christ, who only is sinless,
Reconciles sinners to the Father.
Death and life have contended
in that combat stupendous:
The Prince of life, who died,
reigns immortal.
Speak, Mary, declaring
What you saw, wayfaring.
"The tomb of Christ, who is living,
the glory of Jesus' resurrection;
"Bright angels attesting,
The shroud and napkin resting.
"Yes, Christ my hope is arisen;
To Galilee he goes before you."
Christ indeed
from death is risen,
our new life obtaining.
Have mercy, victor King,
ever reigning!
Amen. Alleluia!
The message is clear. He loves us in a way and depth that is beyond our limited understanding. A love that through human pain, suffering and an agenizing death and Resurection He gave for me forgiveness and offers eternity in the presence of the Father.
I look back at my parents and my life with them. What they gave, gave up and endured so that me and my five sisters would have, would be safe, and would flourish. The love of my parents was ever-present, stern at times. Sometime unseen in my childish eyes. But present nonetheless. Providing me a place that I could always count on and a place I could always return to. A place that was safe, a place of comfort, a place of structure, a place of rules and boundaries. A home of forgiving love, a family.
To understand the depths of parental love one need only look at the impact of the loss of a child has on the parents. The wound created, the profound grief is something always present. The absence is palpable daily. To what extend would a parent go to keep a child safe, to protect a child from suffering, to avoid death.
Our Father who art in Heaven… Give those few words just a second or two of thought. What are we saying here? Are we not calling to our parent? The one who gives us life, who cares for us, who would give anything to keep us safe, protect us from suffering and death. What did he give to accomplish this for each of us. He gave us his only begotten Son. He gave us a part of the Holy Trinity, a part of himself. He endured the loss of his most beloved Son so that he could overcome death through the Resurrection. That we may be free from our sins. He did this out of His love and mercy for his earthly children. This is Easter. Rather, this is the beginning of Easter.
This Easter Sunday as I sat in the pew, the thought came into my mind, what a letdown. The world is still a dark place. War rages. Might is right. Truth is relative. Have we as a people arrived at the empty tomb, looked in and simply returned to our daily routine?
Easter calls us all to live in a new way. To realize that we are one family. Whose Father, out of love, did for each of us something far beyond our understanding. He offers us a path Home, a path of unity with our Parent for eternity, through the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
In, The Glory of God Revealed: A Lenten Journal for Peacemakers, Joan Chittister states: “We must all, at the end of this Lent, live our lives now so that God is not put to the test, so that all the communities of the earth can find blessing in us, so that the expectation of the in-breaking of the spirit of Jesus is possible, so that Jesus can heal us of our own blindness, so that the dead of this world can be brought back to life, so that the Truth is made disarmingly clear in us, so that the glory of God is revealed today.” Let this be our continuing Easter, our new way of living.
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