I hope that each of you continue to have a blessed Easter season.
Saint Josemaria Escriva instructs: “Easter is a time of joy - a joy not confined to this period of the liturgical year, but to be found really and fully in the Christian’s heart. For Christ is alive.”
Following the Lord’s death upon the cross we know that Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning as if to encounter a dead body, but she instead encountered the stone rolled away. The stone being rolled away singled the great fact that Christ is alive.
We each need to be reminded of this great hope, that Christ is alive. We need to be reminded of this hope for without it, it becomes easy for us to lose faith. No we cannot allow ourself to lose our faith for no matter what hardship and trial that comes our way Christ is alive. Christ is not only alive during this season of Easter, but this reality transcends this season into everyday of our life.
We must remember that each Sunday is a participation in the Lord’s Resurrection. The reason why we gather on Sunday is because this was the day that our Lord rose from the tomb. Due to COVD-19 many have lost sight of the importance of this day and many no longer attend Mass in person. Online streaming is a good a praiseworthy practice when one is unable to attend Mass for a just cause, but it is not a substitute for Mass. In our diocese Bishop Stika will thankfully be restoring the obligation to assist at Mass on Sunday and Holy Days of Obligation on Petecost which is May 23rd. May we not lose sight of the importance of Sunday and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
As we proclaim that Christ is alive, so too we must profess this same reality throughout the world. In the words of Saint Josemaria Escriva: “Christ is alive in Christians. Our faith teaches us that man, in the state of grace, is divinized- filled with God.” In the words of Saint Paul: “It is now no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me.”
From Saint Paul’s statement we can gather that the faith is something which is alive and well. The faith is not something which is dead and stagnant. Instead the faith must be something which is brought out into the world and lived. No matter the hardship or difficulty that we might be called to embrace it is the joy of Christ Resurrected which must always move us forward despite any difficult moment for Christ is alive and well.
Therefore, each of us are to be sent forth to live out the joy of Easter in the midst of the world. We can never forget that Christ is truly alive and no longer locked away inside of the tomb. We must allow Christ to dwell within us and we like the apostles must be willing to bring Him out to the world. Let us live out these Easter mysteries not only in this season, but each and every day of our life.
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