Pastor Speaks
My Dear Friends,
Easter the Birthday of Eternal Hope
Easter is the greatest feast in the Catholic Church. It marks the birthday of our eternal hope. “Easter” literally means ”the feast of fresh flowers.” We celebrate it with pride and jubilation for three reasons:
1) The Resurrection of Christ is the basis of our Christian Faith, for it proves that Jesus is God. That is why St. Paul writes: “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain; and your Faith is in vain … And if Christ has not been raised, then your Faith is a delusion, and you are still lost in your sins … But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep” (l Cor 15:14,17,20). “Jesus is Lord; He is risen!” (Rom 10:9) was the central theme of the kerygma ( or “preaching”), of the apostles. It is the crowning truth of our Faith in Christ, a Faith believed and lived as the central truth by the first Christian community.
My Dear Friends,
Easter the Birthday of Eternal Hope
Easter is the greatest feast in the Catholic Church. It marks the birthday of our eternal hope. “Easter” literally means ”the feast of fresh flowers.” We celebrate it with pride and jubilation for three reasons:
1) The Resurrection of Christ is the basis of our Christian Faith, for it proves that Jesus is God. That is why St. Paul writes: “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain; and your Faith is in vain … And if Christ has not been raised, then your Faith is a delusion, and you are still lost in your sins … But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep” (l Cor 15:14,17,20). “Jesus is Lord; He is risen!” (Rom 10:9) was the central theme of the kerygma ( or “preaching”), of the apostles. It is the crowning truth of our Faith in Christ, a Faith believed and lived as the central truth by the first Christian community.
2) Easter is the guarantee of our own resurrection. Jesus assured Martha at the tomb of Lazarus: “I am the Resurrection and the Life; whoever believes in Me will live even though he dies” (Jn 11 :25-26). By virtue of the Holy Spirit, our Christian life is already a participation in the death and Resurrection of Christ.
3) Easter is a feast which gives us hope and encouragement in this world of pain, sorrows, and tears. It reminds us that life is worth living. It is our belief in the Real Presence of the Risen Jesus, in our souls, in His Church, in the Blessed Sacrament, and in Heaven that gives meaning to our personal, as well as to our common, prayers. Our trust in the all-pervading presence of the Risen Lord gives us strength to fight against temptations and freedom from unnecessary worries and fears.
There are few reasons why we should believe in the Resurrection of Jesus:
(a) Jesus himself testified to his Resurrection from the (i) dead (Mk 8:31; Mt 17:22; Lk 9:22).
(b) The tomb was empty on Easter Sunday (Lk 24:3). Although the .,Pe.:ut, guards claimed (Mt 28: 13) that the disciples of Jesus had stolen the body, every sensible Jew knew that it was impossible for the terrified disciples of Jesus to steal the body of Jesus from a tomb guarded by a sixteen-member team of armed Roman soldiers.
(c) The initial disbelief of Jesus’ own disciples in his Resurrection, despite his repeated apparitions. This serves as a strong proof of his Resurrection. It explains why the apostles started preaching the resurrected Christ only after receiving the anointing of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.
(d) The transformation of Jesus’ disciples: The disciples
of Jesus were almost immediately transformed from men who were hopeless and fearful after the crucifixion (Lk 24:21, Jn 20:19) into men who were confident and bold witnesses of the Resurrection (Acts 2:24; 3:15; 4:2).
(e) The Jews and the Romans could not disprove Jesus Resurrection by presenting the dead body of Jesus.
(f) The apostles and early Christians would not have faced martyrdom if they were not absolutely sure of Jesus’ Resurrection.
(g) The Apostle Paul’s conversion from a persecutor of Christians into a zealous apostle, preaching the Good News ofJesus throughout much of the Gentile world supports the truth of Jesus’ Resurrection (Gal 1: 11-17, Acts 9:1; 9:24-25; Acts 26:15-18).
(h) The sheer existence of a thriving, empire-conquering early Christian Church, bravely facing three centuries of persecution, supports the truth of the Resurrection claim.
(i) The New Testament witnesses do not bear the stamp of dupes or deceivers. The apostles and the early Christians were absolutely sure about the Resurrection of Jesus.
As a parish we are invited to strengthen our faith in the risen Lord and conquer ourselves, the other and attain the eternal life in Christ. Let us overcome our differences by learning the truth about Jesus how he washed their feet saying, “If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.” (Jn 13:12-15). Let us sit together as a family as Jesus sat for the Last Supper, and invited his disciples by giving the bread saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.” By giving the cup to them saying, “Drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, from now on I shall not drink this fruit of the vine until the day when I drink it with you new in the kingdom of my Father.” (Mt 26:26-29). Jesus died on the cross to raise us all to experience the glory of God. May this Easter be an experience of the risen Lord walking with us to renewed faith and hope.
Rev. Fr. Lawrence D’cunha OCD