Florida Catholic | Sunday Word

Easter Sunday

He is risen! Alleluia!

March 23, 2008 :: Acts 10:34a, 37-43; Ps 118:1-2, 16-17, 22-23; Col 3:1-4; Jn 20:1-9

MSGR. MICHAEL REED

Alleluia! He isn’t missing! He is here, raised from the dead and revealing himself at every time, moment and place in our lives!”

Easter Sunday is the day of great rejoicing for all Christians! The Lord who had been judged, condemned, crucified and placed in a tomb is risen from the dead. The tomb could not hold him. The stone rolled over the entrance did not stop him. The fear, jealousy, hatred, jeering, spitting, scourging, cruelty and death by crucifixion could not keep Jesus from his mission to save us from sin and deliver us from the clutches of death. Nothing, not even death, could stand in the way of his love. His resurrection would reveal the power of a love that defies all that tries to pull us down into the dust and clay of the earth. Jesus’ love gives us — wherever there is death — a new life.

And yet, there are probably some who will miss the point of Easter: that the Resurrection has changed every aspect of why and how we live our lives. I wonder if some people look at the empty tomb with the interpretation that Jesus is missing. And perhaps that is the real problem. Jesus appears to be missing from many lives. How could this be? After all that’s been done — God the Father’s plan of salvation; the sending of his son; the healings, miracles and amazing signs; the rejection, suffering and horrible death and the amazing Resurrection — how is it possible for us to have Jesus missing from our lives?

Throughout my childhood and youth, my dad would get up every morning from Monday through Friday at 5 a.m. to go to work. That was so early in the morning that I never saw my dad until he came home from work almost 12 hours later. But, I never would have described my dad as missing. I knew exactly where he was and how hard he was working to support his family. In a sense that’s how I experience the empty tomb and the Resurrection. After the Resurrection, I know exactly where the Lord is and how hard he worked and continues to work on my behalf.

Uniquely for us Catholics, the Lord is very much a part of our lives in the sacraments. He was there at my baptism and continues to be a part of my life each time I participate in the sacrament of penance. He urges me to change and transformation in the sacrament of the Eucharist, and has showered me with every gift I will ever need to do what he needs me to do through the sacrament of confirmation and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Some experience Jesus’ faithfulness and love in their sacrament of marriage and, like me, some know Jesus is with them as they minister to God’s people as priests or deacons — having received the sacrament of holy orders. As we encounter serious illness or death, Jesus is with us, comforting us in the sacrament of the sick.

The resurrected Jesus continues to be here for us through all the challenges of life. This is certainly great news for anyone among us who ever felt that Jesus is far away, absent, gone or missing!

Alleluia! He isn’t missing! He is here, raised from the dead and revealing himself at every time, moment and place in our lives!

Msgr. Reed is chancellor of the Pensacola-Tallahassee Diocese.

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