Happy Easter!
Today we celebrate the fact that the Paschal lamb has been sacrificed, but He has also risen from the tomb which had claimed His mortal body. When Mary of Magdala called out to Peter and John they found there the burial cloths of our Blessed Lord cast to the side. Through this revelation they came to understand and believe that Christ our hope had arisen. In the words of the Sequence: “Christ indeed from death is risen, our new life obtaining.”
Through our celebration of Easter we must come to discover this empty tomb for ourself. We must come to believe and profess that He has indeed arisen. We must strive for this “new life obtaining.” Following this homily we will have an opportunity to renew our baptismal vows. In doing so we profess that we have been baptized, we profess that we still embrace Christ, and we profess that we continue to reject our former way of life.
From Saint Paul’s Epistle we were instructed that we must “clear out the old yeast, so that you may become a fresh batch of dough, inasmuch as you are unleavened.” This should take our mind back to the Israelites who were led out of the slavery that they had come to know within Egypt. Here they came to celebrate the Passover meal and they did so through the use of unleavened bread. This unleavened bread becomes a symbol for them of the fact that they had been claimed by God, that they had been led out of their slavery, and that they are now oriented towards the Promised Land.
Hopefully we can come to embrace this same understanding for ourself through Christ Jesus. We must continue to “clear out the old yeast, so that you may become a fresh batch of dough, inasmuch as you are unleavened.” To “clear out the old yeast” is to stay close to Christ and to long for nothing over Him. To “clear out the old yeast” is to embrace the Church and the sacraments which are found here in. To “clear the out the old yeast” is to make this same life changing discovery that Mary Magdala, Peter, and John came to make through their encounter with the empty tomb.
Easter is this “new life obtaining” because it lifts us out of the sadness of death and sin and orients us towards life which is to come. Through this empty tomb we must discover the hope which must come to dwell in the heart of every Christian. The hope that despite every cross which we must come to bear that something greater will come from it. Truly something greater comes through the Resurrection because it gives us the hope that we too will be resurrected from the dead on the last day to be united with the risen Jesus Christ forever.
