A most blessed Easter to all of you!
Today we gather with great joy to celebrate the triumph of Jesus over the tomb. The tomb should be very familiar with us because we see the despair that comes with it so often played out within our world.
Only last week a terrorist attack happened in Brussels which tragically killed 31 including the three bombers. At the start of this month four Missionaries of Charity as well as 12 others were tragically killed in Yemen due to their profession of Christ. Our own country is not far different then the rest of the world for we continue to allow the tragic murder against the unborn to take place through abortion. These are only a few examples of all which is taking place within this world that brings us into the despair of the tomb.
If we take our mind back to the death of Lazarus we would encounter the pleas of Martha and Mary: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” They would later take Jesus to the tomb and there the stone was rolled away and He would cry out: “Lazarus, come out.” Saint John’s Gospel then points out that the hands, feet, and face of Lazarus were still wrapped in a cloth. They were still wrapped in a cloth because this resurrection was not the one of the Messiah which would assure us of our salvation. Martha and Mary at the start of this story were still present with despair due to the what was in the tomb, but Christ gave them a foreshadowing of the resurrection and thus gave them every reason to rejoice and be filled with hope.
And so despite the tragedy which might be present in our life or within this world we do not have to continue to remain stuck at the tomb where we are left to despair. Christ through His Resurrection is showing us that there is something greater which is to come. From the Easter Sequence: “Christ my hope is arisen; to Galilee he goes before you. Christ indeed from death is risen, our new life obtaining.”
And so today we come to the tomb and we find the stone rolled away. Despite the despair brought about by the darkness of sin and death we come to discover new life. In the account of our Gospel we do not discover Jesus in the flesh, but we do discover the cloths which were no longer binding upon the hands, feet, and face of our Blessed Lord. These have been stripped away and with them new life has been obtained for each of us. We are therefore sent away from the tomb with great joy because sin and death can no longer hold us captive. Christ has come and conquered over all of these realities through His Resurrection.
Therefore as Christians we must be sent forth from here as a new creation in Christ. This reality is made known through the Sacrament of Baptism and thus the renewal of our baptismal vows which we will soon make. Through these vows we profess our unending love for Christ and our desire to serve Him above all things. Through our participation in sin we do not profess this reality, and so may we be sent forth from here by allowing the cloths which might bind us, as they did Lazarus, to be ripped away.
