Fr. Vincent Munary sx
Easter Sunday
Easter Sunday
The gospel of John (20, 1-9) gives us interesting details about what happened on the first day of the week (what came to be called Sunday) almost 2 thousand years ago. It was very early and still dark. Not completely dark anyway because there was a full moon of Spring, the first of the year, the full moon already known when we read Exodus, that moon that shone on the Hebrews leaving Egypt; it was there 3 days before the Resurrection when it revealed the presence of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane to the soldiers guided by Judas, it witnessed all the atrocities of the Passion and death of Jesus; it was there when Jesus was taken down from the cross and put in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea near the Calvary (cf. Mt. 27, 57 f). Now “early in the morning” all was deep silence. The followers of the Prophet Jesus were very sorry: their hopes had been destroyed for ever (Cf. Luke 24, 13 - 18).
Nobody noticed the sound of quick steps on the gravel of the road outside. Mary of Magdala had provided some essences and aromas for the dead body of the Lord and was moving towards the tomb. Thanks to the light of the moon, she saw something incredible: the heavy stone had been moved away. She turned back immediately and running reached the Upper Room, the place where the Apostles were gathered, shouting: “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” (John 20, 2).
So now, not only a single woman but also two of the Apostles, Peter and John, are running to go and see what had really happened. John reached the tomb first, but waited for Peter before entering. Jesus' body was not there, nor could there have been a theft because the linen cloths were lying on the ground and the head cloth rolled up in a place by itself (John 20, 6.7).
And now other steps are converging to the place; they want to see if it is true, if it is possible. The incredible good news that the breath of life was blown into the New Man and a totally new era was starting in that new day, the first day of the new creation!
We are all part of it it. For this reason Jesus came and comes. Believing in him, we pass from a purely human to a divine life continually kept alive by the sacraments, prayer, our faith in the risen Jesus.
Every new life has a cost of suffering; and more than it, this new divine birth cost many sufferings that you accepted, o Christ Jesus, for our sake and for our salvation.
THANK YOU, JESUS! THANK YOU FOR OUR NEW EASTER, FOR OUR NEW DIVINE LIFE!
The gospel of John (20, 1-9) gives us interesting details about what happened on the first day of the week (what came to be called Sunday) almost 2 thousand years ago. It was very early and still dark. Not completely dark anyway because there was a full moon of Spring, the first of the year, the full moon already known when we read Exodus, that moon that shone on the Hebrews leaving Egypt; it was there 3 days before the Resurrection when it revealed the presence of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane to the soldiers guided by Judas, it witnessed all the atrocities of the Passion and death of Jesus; it was there when Jesus was taken down from the cross and put in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea near the Calvary (cf. Mt. 27, 57 f). Now “early in the morning” all was deep silence. The followers of the Prophet Jesus were very sorry: their hopes had been destroyed for ever (Cf. Luke 24, 13 - 18).
Nobody noticed the sound of quick steps on the gravel of the road outside. Mary of Magdala had provided some essences and aromas for the dead body of the Lord and was moving towards the tomb. Thanks to the light of the moon, she saw something incredible: the heavy stone had been moved away. She turned back immediately and running reached the Upper Room, the place where the Apostles were gathered, shouting: “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” (John 20, 2).
So now, not only a single woman but also two of the Apostles, Peter and John, are running to go and see what had really happened. John reached the tomb first, but waited for Peter before entering. Jesus' body was not there, nor could there have been a theft because the linen cloths were lying on the ground and the head cloth rolled up in a place by itself (John 20, 6.7).
And now other steps are converging to the place; they want to see if it is true, if it is possible. The incredible good news that the breath of life was blown into the New Man and a totally new era was starting in that new day, the first day of the new creation!
We are all part of it it. For this reason Jesus came and comes. Believing in him, we pass from a purely human to a divine life continually kept alive by the sacraments, prayer, our faith in the risen Jesus.
Every new life has a cost of suffering; and more than it, this new divine birth cost many sufferings that you accepted, o Christ Jesus, for our sake and for our salvation.
THANK YOU, JESUS! THANK YOU FOR OUR NEW EASTER, FOR OUR NEW DIVINE LIFE!