Our 40 day journey from Ash Wednesday and through Lent has come to a climax today in the greatest day of all days on the Christian Calendar: Easter Sunday. The Solemnity of the Resurrection of the Lord! Throughout these forty days we were challenged by Holy Mother Church to turn inwardly to examine ourselves and how we are living out our Christian vocation in this world. In this examination we were challenged to turn from self-contentedness to that of a closer relationship with God and with others. How did we do? Is God now more the center of who we are? Did we remind ourselves that we are to serve God through acts of charity towards others?
In the first reading for this Easter Sunday, from the Acts of the Apostles, we hear Peter, with new found courage and wisdom, proclaiming a Risen Christ. "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." (Acts 10:40). Peter experienced the risen Christ, and through the power of the Holy Spirit had the courage to proclaim that faith to the world. We, too, are called to take what we have experienced throughout the forty days of Lent, and proclaim a Risen Christ in this world.
We, like Peter and the first apostles, are called to bring the Good news that Jesus Christ died for our sins, and, on the Third Day rose from the dead.
In the gospel for today, from St. John, chapter 20, we hear of the empty tomb that Mary of Magdala, Peter, and the disciple that Jesus loved found. The gospel concludes that they did not yet understand the Scripture that he (Jesus) had to rise from the dead. (John 20:9) Throughout these last forty days of Lent, we learned, through scripture, of the mission of love that Christ came into the world to die for our sins, and to bring us into a closer relationship with the Father. It is through this relationship with God the Father, through the love of Jesus Christ, that we can have that peace and contentment in dealing with all our lives difficulties. And we are to bring this Good News of the Risen Lord to others in our lives. We are to be, like Peter, witnesses chosen by God to those we are called to serve. Further, we are to continue to study scripture on a regular basis in order to grow closer to our Creator, and to those around us.
The Lord is truly risen, alleluia!!
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