2024/03/31 SCRIPTURE REFLECTION
Easter Sunday - The Resurrection of the Lord
- Fr. Matt Litak, Assoc. Pastor & Dir. of Formation
Praised be Jesus Christ. One of my favorite scenes on film is the scene toward the end of “Tree of Life” where Sean Penn’s character goes through the door on the beach, symbolically his passing over from death into eternity. What happens next is him meeting his parents and his brother who died in childhood. All the hurt, all the brokenness, the disagreements and rifts between father and sons, between husband and wife, between brothers, are healed. They embrace, knowing that all has been forgiven, as they now see what was lost and receive it with eyes that can now appreciate the wonder that was around them the whole time. We see old hands becoming new. We see the joy and play of family. And then the camera pans out and we see this scene in family after family, in person after person. We see the great healing of the Resurrection where time and space, suffering and woundedness are transcended by Beauty and Communion. That scene encapsulates for me, the meaning of Easter. Easter is our one great hope for healing and Communion, for the victory of Love over brokenness, isolation, and hatred. When Jesus rose from the dead, suddenly all people had a chance. All families that were broken or divided could be healed. My own brokenness could be healed, and I could embrace, truly and completely, those with whom I had fallen out, those whom I had hurt and by whom I had been hurt. And not just spiritually, but physically, for in the Resurrection our bodies and our souls are healed. The Resurrection is the most important event in human history, and it gives us hope for an Eternal Day at the end of history.
Mary Magdalene loved her friend and Master whom she thought she had lost. Then she met Him again. The disciples thought they had betrayed, denied, and abandoned the Messiah, who then was executed. Then they met Him again. Paul disbelieved the word of the apostles, was persecuting, imprisoning, and aiding in the execution of those who believed in Jesus. Then He met Him on the road. Those that met Him could touch Him, feel His wounds, hear His voice, eat with Him, feel His breath, and receive His instructions. Suddenly timidity gave way to the most zealous and ardent preaching that literally changed the world. Fisherman became preachers, tax collectors became priests and bishops. Persecutors would bear persecution and death for the Resurrected One who promised to make a multitude like Him. Those who came to believe for two millennia have been changed and transformed. Saints were born, sinners were converted to Saints, all based on the promise of Easter, the hope of the Resurrection.
As we enter into it, with jellybeans, colored eggs, bunnies, cooked ham, and family, let us remember our own hopes, and the call of our Master whom we love and who Loves us. Let us remember our call to live resurrected lives, changed and transformed by our own encounters with Christ that have been mediated to us by other members of the body of Christ. Let us speak as Christ spoke, and be generous and merciful as He is to us. Let us come to the day of the resurrection already having lived a piece of it on this side of the door. Let us appreciate the wonder that is all around us and move toward Communion. Happy Easter, He is Risen, He is truly Risen!