New Life Out There!

Easter 2009
April 10, 2009

New Life Out There!

Today we celebrate Easter with great solemnity because we celebrate the bodily resurrection of our Lord from the dead. Today we share the joy of our new brothers and who have been washed (body and soul) in the waters of baptism, and our brothers and sisters who are welcomed today in the Catholic Faith.

With the Psalm reading today, we proclaim with great joy, “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice in it and be glad.”

What a great moment face Easter dawn/morning, too early for most of us. We all got up early today like Mary Magdala who came to the tomb of Jesus while it was still dark.

Easter fills churches this weekend not just because it’s a happy ending to Jesus’ crucifixion and death but because it also means a new beginning of life for us. Jesus’ Resurrection is not only about Jesus but also about us, it’s about our new life in Christ.

The Resurrection of Jesus is rising to life beyond death and beyond time and space. It transcends our present earthly life – a life of eating, drinking, merry-making, power-tripping, marrying, procreating, etc. The Risen Life is the life which we are being invited to share according to God’s great promise as St Paul says, Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor has it dawned on the what God has prepared for those who love Him. (1 Cor 2:9)

Story of the Unborn Twins
There is a story about unborn Twins in the womb who are having a brother-sister conversation. Let us listen to them.

Sister: Do you think there is life after this?
Brother: No, no. You are imagining things again. This is all there is and this is all we need – this dark and cozy space. We only have to cling to the cord that feeds us, and we’ll be okay.

Sister: But there must be something more than this place. There has to be something else – a place with light where there is freedom to move.

(Brother is not convinced. A moment of silence)

Sister: Hey, I have something more to tell you. I believe you won’t believe that, too, but I think there is a mother.

Brother (furious): A mother? What are you talking about? I haven’t seen a mother. Have you? Who put that silly idea in your head? I told you, this place is all we have. Why do you always want more? This is not a bad place after all. So, let’s be content.

(Sister is quite upset by her brother’s attitude. Silence. Meanwhile, she starts to feel strange spasms and squeezes all over the body.)

Sister: Do you feel what I feel? These squeezes on my body are becoming more frequent and painful.

Brother: Yes, I do. What’s special about that?

Sister: Well I think these spasms are preparing us for another place more beautiful and comfortable than this where we’ll see our mother face to face. Don’t you think that’s exciting?

(Brother is silent. He is fed up with guesses and fantasies of his sister. The best thing for him to do, he says to himself, is to ignore her)

We can imagine at the end of the story the twin Sister was right. There is life outside the womb. There is light outside and there is a place where they can enjoy freedom. And yes, there is a mother. But I guess we cannot blame her twin Brother for his unbelief, after all, no fetus ever moved out of a womb, and returned to tell about the magic of sunset, beauty of creation and a mother’s kiss – outside the womb. He has no idea about life and anything outside the womb.

Struggle for Faith is Conquered by Love
Likewise, on that Easter morning, Mary Magdala and Simon Peter, both had no idea about life after death. They had no idea about Resurrection. As the Gospel says, “For they did not yet understand the scripture that he had to rise from the dead.”

When Mary discovered that the stone covering the entrance to the tomb had been rolled away, she feared that the body had been stolen and taken away. Mary ran to tell Peter and John (the "disciple whom Jesus loved," v 2), and the two disciples raced to the tomb to see for themselves.

Mary and Peter have both surrendered readily that when Jesus suffered, died and was buried, that was the end of him. In their grief, they need to find out where the body of their Lord was.

Only the “disciple whom Jesus loved” believed that Jesus is not dead, not because he saw and touched Jesus but because he loved. John, was the first one to believe that Jesus has Risen because his love to Jesus perhaps is stronger than the others.

Philosopher Gabriel Marcel once said, to say someone “I love you” is to say “You will not die”. To say “I love you” with authentic love, not spoken lightly, but spoken from the depths of one’s being is to write within oneself, “You will not die.” True love mysteriously resists despair at the loss of the love one, face to face with the evidence of death. Love, authentic love, is itself a desire for immortality; it’s a claim for eternity.

On Easter: Jesus Shows Us Newness of Life
Easter Sunday is a celebration of the newness of life, that is eternal life, we received from God, through our Lord’s Resurrection.

Easter Sunday renews our understanding of life in a world that knows so much death, physical death, spiritual and moral death. Jesus has risen from the dead to show us that human life is transformed. Jesus has risen from the dead to prove to us there is loving God, like a mother or father who cares for his or her child. Jesus has risen for the dead to tell us that life has so much to offer, if we believe in His Resurrection.

Today let us make Easter celebration not just a spiritual day trip, but let us make it a renewal of our journey with Christ in His Church, knowing that we are loved, because God loves us that He gifted us with life, and not simply life, but life eternal - not after our death, not tomorrow, but today, here and now.

May the blessing of Easter remain with us and loved ones forever and ever. Amen.




Readings: And They Shall Name Him Emmanuel by Fr C.G. Arevalo SJ; Hello Jubilee by Fr Ruben J. Villote