Easter Sunday
Readings:
Acts 10:34, 37 – 43
Colossians 3:1 – 4
John 20: 1 – 9
Reflection:
Rejoice and be Glad! The Lord is truly Risen!
If you follow the news from the newspaper or even from your mobile phone, one can easily be assailed by so much bad news! Calamities invade our minds and hearts – like the earthquake in Myanmar, or the continual shocking situation of Gaza in the Middle East, or the Sudan where millions are under threat of starvation and war, or the Ukraine which suffers from the invasion from Russia. One can easily become depressed!
Yet God has a plan for the redemption of our crazy world. God has sent his very Son to become man, “to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,”[1] and to promise New Life and hope for those who turn to him.
We hear how Mary of Magdala, Simon Peter and the other disciple (very likely John) looked for Jesus in the tomb that first Easter morning. At first, when they did not find the body of Jesus, they thought someone had stolen his body. But after Lazarus had been raised, and the way the binding clothes were on the floor, and the cloth over the head of Jesus was rolled up and put to the side, John and Simon realised that Jesus had truly Risen from the dead, as he said! Love for Jesus gave impetus to a burgeoning faith: “Rejoice and be glad! For the Lord has truly Risen.” The world is on a new trajectory – to share his victory over sin and death!
Let us feel it in our hearts and communicate that Glad Tidings to others around us!
[1] W. Shakespeare “ Hamlet,” Act III, sc.1
Pat McIndoe CP, a Passionist at St. Joseph, Port Moresby, PNG.