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WHO DO YOU SAY I AM?
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Easter! The time of “Alleluia/Hallelujah” (“Praise the LORD”)! Eight weeks (an “octave” of weeks) of joy to offset the six weeks of sorrow and repentance that was Lent. The fifty days of celebration that are, for Christians, the equivalent of the fifty years that marked the Jewish year of Jubilee, the year of restoration and liberation and peace. The Catholic tradition of the Holy Year (beginning in the year 1300), marked every fifty years, was a reflection of this.
Easter actually began Saturday night with the Vigil (according to the Jewish and Catholic liturgical calendars, the “day” begins at sunset the night before—Sabbath begins at sunset Friday). It gives us the joy of celebrating baptisms and Confirmations for some special people, incorporating them into the Body of Christ and the life of Our Savior parish. We say to them what the King said to His faithful servants (Matthew 25:14-30): “Come, share your Master’s joy.” And we want to share it, as well—here, and forever.
I’ll repeat myself from a recent homily—the empty tomb is one of those most powerful “intimations (hints) of immortality” that tease us and lead us on, beyond this world and outside of ourselves. YES! This is not all there is (Peggy Lee’s ancient song to the contrary notwithstanding). To quote C S Lewis: “If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.” It’s the world that belief in and trust in the Resurrection leads us to.
Finally, every one of us must ask ourselves the question, “For what do I truly long?” Is it power or pleasure or prestige, or is it love and joy? Jesus taught the way of love and joy; if His tomb is empty, if He is risen, then His message truly is “The Way, the Truth, and the Life.” Where do we want to stand? Are we more longing to be in the company of the Lord, with (for example) Mother Teresa, Francis of Assisi, Ignatius Loyola, Peter & Paul, and the Blessed Mother, or would we rather find ourselves grouped with the conquerors, despots, egotists, dictators, and manipulators that our history is so littered with? To quote an ancient Christian document, there are two “ways”—one leading to life, one leading to death. God said the same thing to Moses: “I have today set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life, then...” (Deuteronomy 30:19).
“A Christian is an ‘Alleluia’ from head to foot,” St Augustine wrote. Let’s shout that word now from the top of our voice, let’s choose life, let’s praise God for being welcomed into the communion of saints, let’s follow the Risen One who is the Way and Truth and Life. He IS risen—yes, He is truly risen. HALLELUIA!
For future reading, let me recommend Paul Badde’s The Face of God and Ian Wilson’s The Shroud of Turin.