Easter Morning Reflection

Allelulia! He is risen!

I write this while still basking in the glow of last night’s Easter Vigil at Our Lady of Lourdes.  The darkness in the church, slowly melting away as we processed in with our candles, lit from the Easter candle (itself lit from the big fire outside the Church).  The exquisitely beautiful chanting of the Exultet.  The readings from the Hebrew Scripture, chronicling our salvation history.  (It was my privilege to proclaim the creation story of Genesis.)  The Gospel account of the empty tomb.  And then a moment of great happiness as the ten people I helped lead through RCIA this year entered into full communion with the Church.  We had four catechumens and ten candidates and their happiness was apparent to everyone.  (I almost cried as I watched them process up first when it came time for distribution of the Eucharist.) It was, all in all, a deeply moving and joyful experience.

As everything in the service reminded us, today we celebrate not merely the anniversary of something that happened to one person a long time ago, but what is means for us.

Today we acknowledge that victory has been won.  That death has been defeated in that, while our physical bodies will die, we will live with our God.

Today, in celebrating Jesus’ resurrection, we also celebrate the promise of our own resurrection.

Now, for each of us, the question is: What difference does that make in our lives?

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