Witnesses to Easter TriumphApril 02, 2018

Did you ever stop to think that Christianity witnesses to victory? We proclaim in Jesus Christ death overturned by resurrection. As St. Paul reminds the Corinthians and us, our faith is empty without the transformation of Easter, without the triumph of new life over suffering and death.

Resurrected glory is not an abstraction, nor is suffering. Both take shape through our human experience. Victory is buried in the “seeds” of our own dying; sickness, joblessness, poverty, violence and grief. We don’t just tell the story of Jesus, crucified and risen, we participate in the story through Him and with Him.

As contemporary disciples, we are confident that Christ is “God with us” in every way. The Resurrected One greets us with peace when we are locked behind the doors of our fears, and those of others. The Divine Presence fills our hungers when we recognize His glory in the breaking of the bread. We converse with Him on the Emmaus Road when trying to understand disturbing news, and ask: “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know of the things that have taken place there in these days?” The Lord of triumph rises in us through peace, through satisfied hungers, through the companion who speaks truth to us when confusion abounds.

We are an Easter people after all! Feel it, live into it, and rejoice in the victory that is ours!

Easter blessings. Alleluia! Alleluia!

Sister Joanne Buckman