Easter Reflection 

by Archbishop Patrick C. Pinder, STD, CMG, KC*HS

With the start of the Paschal Triduum, on the evening of Holy Thursday, Lent ends and the celebration of Easter begins.  It begins by taking us through the Last Supper, the Passion and then the Resurrection of Christ. 

Easter is the center of our faith and worship.  The celebration of Easter brings us back to the foundation of our faith.  It takes us back to how it all began.   It is essential for us to return to this Feast each year to remember what it is that we
believe and why we believe it. We return then to the very source of the strength and the hope and the purpose and the meaning that is within us.

We need that!

 The challenges to our peace of mind and even our well-being seem nonstop. There are brutal wars in distant lands. There is profound social upheaval and unrest causing tremendous human suffering, in countries so very close to us.

We too have our own share of social challenges from crime to cancer.

We need to find our bearing and to be anchored to the source of strength and hope and meaning which gives purpose to our lives.

From the liturgy of Easter Sunday we have words from the Acts of Apostles where Peter reports how:

 Jesus “...went about doing good and healing all those oppressed by the devil for God was with him. .... They put him to death by hanging him on a tree. Yet.... “God raised him on the third day....” (Acts10:37ff)

At Easter, we celebrate what Peter was speaking about when he says, “God raised Him on the third day.”  We celebrate the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.

We share in that resurrection by our very own Baptism.  Sharing in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the way we understand our Baptism.  As St. Paul says:

“Are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in the newness of life.” (Romans 6: 3-4)

Continuing that same thought, the second reading for Easter Sunday which is taken from Colossians says this:

“If then you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.” (Colossians 3:1)

Living in the newness of life and seeking what is above indicates life in the light of the resurrection.

Let us remember that at the beginning of Lent, in our preparation for Easter we were invited to undertake a journey of conversion.  The words of the Prophet Joel from Ash Wednesday were very striking and very instructive as well.  It is
well for us to keep them in mind.  The Prophet says to us:

“Even now, says the Lord, return to me with your whole heart, with fasting, and weeping and mourning.  Rend your hearts, not your garments, and return to the Lord, your God.  For gracious is he, slow to anger, rich in kindness and relenting in punishment.  Perhaps he will again relent and leave behind him a blessing.” (Joel 2:12-14a)

The call to conversion at the beginning of Lent and the call to live in the newness of life at the start of the Easter season remind us who we are and what we are to be doing.  Paul reminds us that we are to be dead to sin and alive for God in
Christ Jesus. (Romans 6:11)
Heeding the call to conversion is the beginning of living in the newness of life of which St. Paul speaks in the Letter to the Romans.  Continuing to heed the call to conversion, despite all temptations to the contrary, is to remain dead to sin and alive for God in Christ Jesus.

This message has a mighty relevance to us here and now.  Conversion means change and too many of us need to change our habit of regular gambling and take up the habit of regular saving.  Too many of us need to step back from the urge to own more things, allowing the consumerist culture to rule and sometimes even ruin us.  The message of Easter is a call to think of what is above the passing attraction of things which do not satisfy our deepest longings.  It is an invitation to live in the newness of life.

Living in a community, as we do, our actions bad or good, have effects beyond ourselves.  Indeed, they impact the quality of our life together.  When we steal someone has to pay for it.  If we are rude and disrespectful, someone is offended by it.  Indeed, our sinful actions have effects beyond ourselves. 

Likewise, the good we do has effects beyond our selves.  An act of kindness, a word of encouragement or challenge or even rebuke, when necessary, may each have an effect beyond our expectations.  The bad and the good in us affect those around us. 

At Easter we are reminded that: "We were indeed buried with [Christ] though baptism in his death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in the newness of life.”  (Romans 6:3-11) 

Also, we are reminded: “If then you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at God’s right hand.  Think of what is above...” (Colossians 3:1-4)

Our task is, always, to affect those around us for the good.  In that way we build our community.  In that way we make our community better for us all.  The foundation of our values, our purpose, our hope and our community building is our Easter faith.

Easter continues our call to conversion.  It is our call to goodness.  It is our call to awaken the most noble aspects of our nature.  The Easter proclamation declares: “Jesus Christ our King is risen!”  With him rose all our hope.  With him rose our desire to carry on despite all the distractions and disappointments and doubts which may encircle us in the course of any given day.

The Easter Season lasts for fifty days, until the Feast of Pentecost.  Easter is, above all else, a joyful season.  To grasp that is to grasp what the gospel refers to when it says that Christ our life, our light, and our hope, rose from the dead. 

May the newness of life which Easter announces come to abide in our hearts and from there influence our lives, our community, and our world.

Happy Easter!