Easter Sunday
of the Resurrection of the Lord
April 5, 2015 Cycle B
by Rev. Jose Maria Cortes, F.S.C.E.
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Sunday Reading Meditations
In the name of the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The Resurrection of Christ is the most wonderful event that ever happened on the face of the earth! As we have just heard in today’s Gospel, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb of Jesus and found it empty. This was the first sign that Christ had risen from the dead.
Last summer I went to the Holy Land, where I had the opportunity of spending a night of vigil in the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher. I spent several hours praying inside the tomb of Jesus, where the most astounding event of human history happened: the Resurrection of Christ from the dead! Being in that place reinforced my faith in the Resurrection. We believe in something that really occurred. Christians believe in facts. Our faith is based on reality. We do not believe in fantasies but in what actually happened in history.
In the first reading, St. Peter proclaims: “This man God raised on the third day and granted that he be visible, not to all the people, but to us, the witnesses chosen by God in advance, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead” (Act 10:40–41).
St. Peter was a witness to the fact of the Resurrection. He saw Jesus in his risen body. When Jesus rose from the dead, he did not just come back to life. He passed from the state of death to another life, beyond time and space.
The Resurrection is a real fact. It really happened! Such a great event has to change our lives. Faith in the Resurrection has enormous consequences.
Since the day of our baptism, we have been participating in the new life that Christ started with his Resurrection.
Today, instead of reciting the Creed, we are going to renew the promises of our baptism. As we renew our vows, we should ask ourselves what we have done with the gift of our baptism. Are our lives changing? Is it our relationship with God growing? Do we love Our Lord more than we did last year?
We cannot let the gift of our baptism become frozen in a Christian life reduced to routine. Baptism is an infinite gift. It introduced us to the experience of the Resurrection. We constantly need to rekindle this great gift, which happens when we really search for God in our lives. In the second reading, St. Paul says: “If then you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God” (Col 3:1).
Like the first witnesses, Mary Magdalene, Peter and John, let us be surprised by the Resurrection of Christ. Let us be enlightened by the light of Easter! Let us rejoice and be glad! Alleluia, Christ is truly risen today!
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.