From Fr. Jude Botelho:
In the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, we listen to Peter as he witnesses to the Risen Lord; this Peter who in a moment of weakness swore he had nothing to do with the master, this Peter who instead of being a solid rock was in truth a pile of sand. The great proof of the resurrection was not the empty tomb but people like Peter, transformed into fearless witnesses of Jesus Christ. In today’s passage we hear Peter fearlessly proclaim that the same Jesus who suffered and died had risen from the dead. This was the mission of Peter and the disciples, to proclaim that Jesus was alive and this is our mission, to witness that Jesus is alive and that we have experienced Him in our lives and His power at work in our world today.
What we have seen and heard and felt….
I have often heard of the Niagara Falls, the Grand Canyon and the Eiffel Tower. What I had was factual or academic knowledge. When I visited these places, and saw them for myself, I had crossed the line into experiential knowledge. Experiential knowledge is not something that can be taught. The only way I could share such knowledge with you is to bring you to share the experience. Quite a great deal of our religion has to deal with academic knowledge, where we learned catechism answers and memorized whole passages of the gospels. Bill Wilson was the founder of Alcoholic Anonymous, together with a man called Bob Smith. One day Bill was in the horrors, when he fell on his knees, and cried out “God, if you are there, please help me”! Suddenly the room was filled with a bright light, and Bill just sat there filled with awe. Eventually, as it were, the light entered his heart and soul and he came out of that room feeling totally changed, exclaiming, “Now I know the God of the preachers.” It is in that way that we can read John’s account of the resurrection.
Jack McArdle in ‘And that’s the Gospel truth’
The Gospel tells us of the events of that first Easter morning. It was still dark so they cannot see that the tomb no longer contains the risen Lord. Mary goes to the tomb because she believes that it is all over. It is the same with many believers whose faith is sometimes shattered by the heavy burdens we carry and the moments of death we encounter. Though Christ has risen we still do not experience Him. ‘It is all over’ we think, but God has not finished with us yet! There are signs that this is not the end. Mary sees that the tomb is empty and she runs to Peter complaining, “they have taken away the body.” Peter and John rush and see the empty tomb and Peter enters the tomb and sees beyond, his faith tells him the master has risen. Then the other disciple entered, he saw and he believed. Every disciple of the Lord has to enter into the tomb, enter into the mystery of suffering and death and only then will the eyes of faith be opened to see and believe. At Easter we are celebrating not only the victory of Jesus over death but the hope that we too will be victorious, we too will conquer not because of our strength but in the power of the risen Lord. The challenge of Easter today is to understand human suffering in the light of Jesus’ resurrection. As it was the Father that raised Jesus to life, so we as Christians are called to play our part, to play God’s part in protesting against violence and injustices that are readily accepted as inevitable. As Christians we have to make our protest against death in the midst of life. Ultimately the resurrection reminds us that though we cannot rise, our God can and will help us to rise again and become witnesses of the resurrection when we stand for life for others in the midst of death.
And there was Resurrection!
“There is no way a black person will ever ride in front of a bus in Birmingham. We’ll keep our customs no matter what anyone else says.” The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. persisted in his movement, 99 percent of the black people in Birmingham courageously stood their ground……and there was Resurrection! “Be reasonable. There is no way that a person without sight, hearing or speech could possibly communicate in any meaningful way. We can make her comfortable, but not much more than that.” But Helen Keller strained and wrestled with every detail of her existence, poured herself into every effort-filled day….and there was Resurrection! “With your illness, no use of your hands and arms, you will never be able to write or draw at all. I’m sorry but we have done all that we can do.” Ann Anders never gave up. She learned to take a pencil in her teeth, developed a great skill in sketching in this way, and became a professional artist……. and there was Resurrection!
Eugene Lauer in ‘Sunday Morning Insights’
Abide with me
In the King James Version of the Bible, the invitation of the two travellers reads, “Abide with us; for it is towards evening and the day is far spent,” words which were the inspiration for that beloved hymn, “Abide with me, Fast falls the eventide.” The hymn was written by Henry Francis Lyte, for 25 years the vicar of the parish at Devonshire, England. He was 54 years old, broken in health and saddened by dissensions in his congregation. On Sunday, September 4, 1847 he preached his farewell sermon and went home to rest. After tea in the afternoon, he retired to his study. In an hour or two, he rejoined his family, holding in his hand the manuscript of his immortal hymn. Despite what most think, Lyte’s ‘eventide’ has nothing to do with the end of the natural day but rather the end of life. “Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day, Earth’s joys grow dim, its glories pass away.” The words are about the faith that faces life and death fearlessly and triumphantly in the light of the cross and the empty tomb. Thus Lyte could conclude, “Heaven’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee, In life, in death. O Lord, abide with me.” Vicar Lyte died three months later.
David Leininger in ‘East of Easter’
Now I can go on living again
There was a young woman living in Washington, DC during the Second World War. Her husband, who had been stationed at a nearby army base, was killed a year earlier during a training exercise – they had been married just four months. During that whole year, this young widow felt more dead than alive. Easter Sunday came along and a friend asked the young widow to go to church with her. It happened that they went to hear the legendary Peter Marshall, who preached in a historic Presbyterian church. That morning, Peter Marshall spoke of Mary coming to the tomb and how her tears turned to joy. He described the sound of a wind rustling through the tomb as if the breath of God were blowing by. He described the sight of Jesus rising up from that cold stone slab, swaying a bit on wounded feet and then walking out into the garden. He described the smell, the whiff of strange scents which must have drifted back to the Man from that tomb, [the smell] of linen and bandages, spices and myrrh, closed air and blood. By the time Peter Marshall finished that sermon, the people in that church felt as if they had been there in the garden to witness the first Easter themselves! When the service was over, the young widow practically walked on air as she left the church and her friend couldn’t believe the change which had come over her. “What happened to you in there?” She asked. “The weight has finally been lifted,” the young woman replied; “now I can go on living again.”
Erskine White in ‘Together in Christ’
Through the Valley of Death
Ernest Gordon wrote a book called ‘Through the Valley of the Kwai’. It documents the true story of what happened in a Japanese prison camp along the Kwai River during World War II. There 12,000 prisoners died of disease and brutality while building a railroad. Men were forced to work in the heat that reached 120 degrees. Bareheaded and barefooted, their only clothes were rags they wore and their only bed the bare ground. But their worst enemy was not the Japanese or their hard life; it was themselves. Gordon says that the fear of the Japanese made them paranoid. They stole from one another, they distrusted one another and they informed on one another. Then something incredible happened. Two prisoners organized the others into Bible study groups. Through their study of the Gospel, the prisoners gradually discovered that Jesus was in their midst as a living person. More than that, they came to discover that Jesus understood their situation. Everything about Jesus - what he was, what he said, what he did -began to make sense and come alive. The prisoners stopped thinking of themselves as victims of some cruel tragedy. Nowhere did their change of heart manifest itself more clearly than in their prayers. They began to pray not so much for themselves, but for one another. Slowly the camp went through a transformation that amazed not only the Japanese but also the prisoners themselves. One night, Gordon was hobbling back to his shack after a meeting with his study group. As he walked along in the darkness he heard the sound of men singing. Someone was keeping time with a stick on a piece of tin. The sound of the stick hitting the tin, and the sound of men singing, made the darkness come alive. The difference between that joyful sound and the deadly silence of the past months was the difference between life and death – the difference between death and resurrection. The story of the transformation that took place in that Japanese prison camp is what Easter is all about!
Mark Link
Did you see Jesus?
A preacher was baptizing a man in a lake. He dunked the man’s head under the water for about fifteen seconds and pulled his head up. The preacher said: “Did you see Jesus?” “No. I didn’t see Jesus,” the man replied. The preacher dunked his head under the water for another thirty seconds and pulled him back up. “Did you see Jesus?” the preacher asked. Again the man said, “No, I didn’t see Jesus.” So the preacher dunked the man’s head back under the water for a third time, this time keeping him there for another forty-five seconds. This time as the minister pulled the man back for the third time he was gasping for a breath of air. The minister said, “Did you see Jesus?” The man blinked and thought for a moment and asked: “Are you sure this is where he fell?” -At the Easter vigil, the elect will be baptized, and all others who are already baptized will be renewing their baptismal promises. Today’s gospel does not present us with the risen Jesus. Instead it presents us with an empty tomb! Unfortunately, we humans are still looking for the living among the dead. We look for life among things that have no life in them. The message of Easter is that we can enter the grave and come out of it, because Jesus has arisen!
****
Craig Barnes, Savior at Large
25- Additional anecdotes:
In the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, we listen to Peter as he witnesses to the Risen Lord; this Peter who in a moment of weakness swore he had nothing to do with the master, this Peter who instead of being a solid rock was in truth a pile of sand. The great proof of the resurrection was not the empty tomb but people like Peter, transformed into fearless witnesses of Jesus Christ. In today’s passage we hear Peter fearlessly proclaim that the same Jesus who suffered and died had risen from the dead. This was the mission of Peter and the disciples, to proclaim that Jesus was alive and this is our mission, to witness that Jesus is alive and that we have experienced Him in our lives and His power at work in our world today.
What we have seen and heard and felt….
I have often heard of the Niagara Falls, the Grand Canyon and the Eiffel Tower. What I had was factual or academic knowledge. When I visited these places, and saw them for myself, I had crossed the line into experiential knowledge. Experiential knowledge is not something that can be taught. The only way I could share such knowledge with you is to bring you to share the experience. Quite a great deal of our religion has to deal with academic knowledge, where we learned catechism answers and memorized whole passages of the gospels. Bill Wilson was the founder of Alcoholic Anonymous, together with a man called Bob Smith. One day Bill was in the horrors, when he fell on his knees, and cried out “God, if you are there, please help me”! Suddenly the room was filled with a bright light, and Bill just sat there filled with awe. Eventually, as it were, the light entered his heart and soul and he came out of that room feeling totally changed, exclaiming, “Now I know the God of the preachers.” It is in that way that we can read John’s account of the resurrection.
Jack McArdle in ‘And that’s the Gospel truth’
The Gospel tells us of the events of that first Easter morning. It was still dark so they cannot see that the tomb no longer contains the risen Lord. Mary goes to the tomb because she believes that it is all over. It is the same with many believers whose faith is sometimes shattered by the heavy burdens we carry and the moments of death we encounter. Though Christ has risen we still do not experience Him. ‘It is all over’ we think, but God has not finished with us yet! There are signs that this is not the end. Mary sees that the tomb is empty and she runs to Peter complaining, “they have taken away the body.” Peter and John rush and see the empty tomb and Peter enters the tomb and sees beyond, his faith tells him the master has risen. Then the other disciple entered, he saw and he believed. Every disciple of the Lord has to enter into the tomb, enter into the mystery of suffering and death and only then will the eyes of faith be opened to see and believe. At Easter we are celebrating not only the victory of Jesus over death but the hope that we too will be victorious, we too will conquer not because of our strength but in the power of the risen Lord. The challenge of Easter today is to understand human suffering in the light of Jesus’ resurrection. As it was the Father that raised Jesus to life, so we as Christians are called to play our part, to play God’s part in protesting against violence and injustices that are readily accepted as inevitable. As Christians we have to make our protest against death in the midst of life. Ultimately the resurrection reminds us that though we cannot rise, our God can and will help us to rise again and become witnesses of the resurrection when we stand for life for others in the midst of death.
And there was Resurrection!
“There is no way a black person will ever ride in front of a bus in Birmingham. We’ll keep our customs no matter what anyone else says.” The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. persisted in his movement, 99 percent of the black people in Birmingham courageously stood their ground……and there was Resurrection! “Be reasonable. There is no way that a person without sight, hearing or speech could possibly communicate in any meaningful way. We can make her comfortable, but not much more than that.” But Helen Keller strained and wrestled with every detail of her existence, poured herself into every effort-filled day….and there was Resurrection! “With your illness, no use of your hands and arms, you will never be able to write or draw at all. I’m sorry but we have done all that we can do.” Ann Anders never gave up. She learned to take a pencil in her teeth, developed a great skill in sketching in this way, and became a professional artist……. and there was Resurrection!
Eugene Lauer in ‘Sunday Morning Insights’
Abide with me
In the King James Version of the Bible, the invitation of the two travellers reads, “Abide with us; for it is towards evening and the day is far spent,” words which were the inspiration for that beloved hymn, “Abide with me, Fast falls the eventide.” The hymn was written by Henry Francis Lyte, for 25 years the vicar of the parish at Devonshire, England. He was 54 years old, broken in health and saddened by dissensions in his congregation. On Sunday, September 4, 1847 he preached his farewell sermon and went home to rest. After tea in the afternoon, he retired to his study. In an hour or two, he rejoined his family, holding in his hand the manuscript of his immortal hymn. Despite what most think, Lyte’s ‘eventide’ has nothing to do with the end of the natural day but rather the end of life. “Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day, Earth’s joys grow dim, its glories pass away.” The words are about the faith that faces life and death fearlessly and triumphantly in the light of the cross and the empty tomb. Thus Lyte could conclude, “Heaven’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee, In life, in death. O Lord, abide with me.” Vicar Lyte died three months later.
David Leininger in ‘East of Easter’
Now I can go on living again
There was a young woman living in Washington, DC during the Second World War. Her husband, who had been stationed at a nearby army base, was killed a year earlier during a training exercise – they had been married just four months. During that whole year, this young widow felt more dead than alive. Easter Sunday came along and a friend asked the young widow to go to church with her. It happened that they went to hear the legendary Peter Marshall, who preached in a historic Presbyterian church. That morning, Peter Marshall spoke of Mary coming to the tomb and how her tears turned to joy. He described the sound of a wind rustling through the tomb as if the breath of God were blowing by. He described the sight of Jesus rising up from that cold stone slab, swaying a bit on wounded feet and then walking out into the garden. He described the smell, the whiff of strange scents which must have drifted back to the Man from that tomb, [the smell] of linen and bandages, spices and myrrh, closed air and blood. By the time Peter Marshall finished that sermon, the people in that church felt as if they had been there in the garden to witness the first Easter themselves! When the service was over, the young widow practically walked on air as she left the church and her friend couldn’t believe the change which had come over her. “What happened to you in there?” She asked. “The weight has finally been lifted,” the young woman replied; “now I can go on living again.”
Erskine White in ‘Together in Christ’
Through the Valley of Death
Ernest Gordon wrote a book called ‘Through the Valley of the Kwai’. It documents the true story of what happened in a Japanese prison camp along the Kwai River during World War II. There 12,000 prisoners died of disease and brutality while building a railroad. Men were forced to work in the heat that reached 120 degrees. Bareheaded and barefooted, their only clothes were rags they wore and their only bed the bare ground. But their worst enemy was not the Japanese or their hard life; it was themselves. Gordon says that the fear of the Japanese made them paranoid. They stole from one another, they distrusted one another and they informed on one another. Then something incredible happened. Two prisoners organized the others into Bible study groups. Through their study of the Gospel, the prisoners gradually discovered that Jesus was in their midst as a living person. More than that, they came to discover that Jesus understood their situation. Everything about Jesus - what he was, what he said, what he did -began to make sense and come alive. The prisoners stopped thinking of themselves as victims of some cruel tragedy. Nowhere did their change of heart manifest itself more clearly than in their prayers. They began to pray not so much for themselves, but for one another. Slowly the camp went through a transformation that amazed not only the Japanese but also the prisoners themselves. One night, Gordon was hobbling back to his shack after a meeting with his study group. As he walked along in the darkness he heard the sound of men singing. Someone was keeping time with a stick on a piece of tin. The sound of the stick hitting the tin, and the sound of men singing, made the darkness come alive. The difference between that joyful sound and the deadly silence of the past months was the difference between life and death – the difference between death and resurrection. The story of the transformation that took place in that Japanese prison camp is what Easter is all about!
Mark Link
Did you see Jesus?
A preacher was baptizing a man in a lake. He dunked the man’s head under the water for about fifteen seconds and pulled his head up. The preacher said: “Did you see Jesus?” “No. I didn’t see Jesus,” the man replied. The preacher dunked his head under the water for another thirty seconds and pulled him back up. “Did you see Jesus?” the preacher asked. Again the man said, “No, I didn’t see Jesus.” So the preacher dunked the man’s head back under the water for a third time, this time keeping him there for another forty-five seconds. This time as the minister pulled the man back for the third time he was gasping for a breath of air. The minister said, “Did you see Jesus?” The man blinked and thought for a moment and asked: “Are you sure this is where he fell?” -At the Easter vigil, the elect will be baptized, and all others who are already baptized will be renewing their baptismal promises. Today’s gospel does not present us with the risen Jesus. Instead it presents us with an empty tomb! Unfortunately, we humans are still looking for the living among the dead. We look for life among things that have no life in them. The message of Easter is that we can enter the grave and come out of it, because Jesus has arisen!
****
From Fr. Tony Kadavil:
1: Incredible, not impossible:
Those who visit Seattle, Washington never miss Ye Olde Curiosity Shop. They have many oddities there. Would you believe that they actually have a pin with the Lord’s Prayer carved on the head of that pin? It is incredible, not impossible, just incredible. They have a piece of hair with the name “Ripley” written on it. The Guinness Book of World Records mentions a little four-year old boy in Korea who spoke four languages: Korean, Japanese, Chinese, and English. There are many things that seem to be impossible but they are only incredible. Did you know that Mrs. Vasalay in Russia gave birth to 69 children? That’s incredible! Did you know that there was a healthy baby born in Turkey that weighed 24 pounds? That is painfully incredible! Did you know that there was man who grew a moustache that was a 102 inches long? That is incredible! One gymnast from the Cirque De Sole climbed up a rope sideways with his arms and his body perfectly perpendicular 90 degrees to that rope. There was a woman juggler with hands so fast you couldn’t even see the speed of the nine balls or knives. There are many things in life that are absolutely and wonderfully incredible, but they are not impossible. It was Jesus who said: “With God, all things are possible!” The women came to the tomb and noticed that the big stone had been rolled away. They wondered what had happened. They looked inside, and incredibly, a young man was sitting there and he was dressed in white. He said to them, “Jesus is not here. He has been raised from the dead by the Power of God.” “Incredible, absolutely incredible!” they thought. Today we celebrate this incredible fact of Jesus’ bodily resurrection from the dead.
2: El Dorado:
The Spanish conquistadors were exotic explorers of the 1500s. These Spanish sailors were brave, daring men of adventure, searching for gold and silver, jasper and emeralds, braving the insecurities of their little bobbing boats in the seismic swells of ocean waves, not knowing what was out there before them in the uncharted seas of a strange new world. These Spanish conquistadors were adventurous people like Hernando de Soto, Francisco Coronado, and Ponce de Leon. It was in 1513 that Ponce de Leon began his search for the legendary El Dorado, a land where gold nuggets were as plentiful as the pebbles found on ocean beaches. Near that legendary El Dorado was the one thing that everybody was looking for. It was more valuable than gold and silver, more valuable than precious jewels. All of his life, Ponce de Leon and everybody else had wanted to find it. He was looking for the legendary “fountain of youth.” He had sailed half way across the world, wanting to taste the waters from that fountain of immortality. He wanted to drink from those waters and be eternally young, eternally vibrant, and eternally energetic. He wanted to drink from those waters of eternal youth and never grow old and die. He searched and searched and, like every person who wanted to find the legendary El Dorado on this side of the grave, he did not find it. But the Risen Jesus is our guarantee that we will have a real fountain of youth when we begin our life after death with him sharing in his heavenly glory.
3: The phoenix bird:
The late Catholic Archbishop of Hartford, John Whealon, who had undergone cancer surgery resulting in a permanent colostomy, wrote these very personal words in one of his last Easter messages: "I am now a member of an association of people who have been wounded by cancer. That association has as its symbol the phoenix bird of Egyptian mythology. When the bird felt its death was near, every 500 to 1,461 years, it would fly off to Phoenicia, build a nest of aromatic wood and set itself on fire. When the bird was consumed by the flames, a new phoenix sprang forth from the ashes. Thus the phoenix bird symbolizes immortality, resurrection, and life after death. It was one of the earliest symbols of the risen Christ. In the same way, any person who has survived a struggle with cancer is considered phoenix-like, having risen from the ashes of disease and been given a new lease on life. Suddenly life becomes more precious to that person. Each hour is lived more fully. Each friend seems much more real. The sky seems more blue, the sunshine more beautiful, and the colors more vivid. Even dull and ordinary things are causes for gratitude to God.” Archbishop John Whealon could have lived in a gloomy tomb of self-pity, hopeless defeat, and chronic sadness, but his faith in the resurrected Lord opened his eyes to new visions of life.
4 . See what happens:
One lady wrote in to a question and answer forum. "Dear Sirs, Our preacher said on Easter, that Jesus just swooned on the cross and that the disciples nursed Him back to health. What do you think? Sincerely, Bewildered.
Dear Bewildered, Beat your preacher with a cat-of-nine-tails, nail him to a cross; hang him in the sun for 6 hours; run a spear through his side...put him in an airless tomb for 36 hours and see what happens." Sincerely, Charles.
5 . Rented for a week end: Joseph of Arimathea was a very wealthy Pharisee, a member of the council, and a secret follower of Jesus. It was Joseph who went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body after the crucifixion. And it was Joseph who supplied the tomb for Jesus’ burial. I wonder if someone pulled him aside and said, "Joseph that was such beautiful, costly, hand-hewn tomb. Why on earth did you give it to someone to be buried in?" "Why not?" Joseph might have answered. “He only needed it for the weekend."
****
6. Happy Easter, Church. Christ Is Risen. He Is Risen Indeed.
The resurrection of Jesus is God's final word spoken in the face of sin, suffering, evil and death. Thanks Be to God.
Easter egg hunts have been in the news all week, both because of the controversy in the White House over the invitations that went out warning that the one on the White House lawn might need to be cancelled, as well as the refusal of some school districts to refer to "Easter eggs," only "Spring eggs."
Come on. Easter egg hunts? They are part of our most beloved childhood memories, even though they have very little to do with the real Easter. Or do they?
Coloring eggs; that sweet smell of vinegar; getting those same six colors all over fingers, clothes, and countertops year after year. Then getting up early enough to compete against brothers and sisters to find the most baskets of eggs and goodies.
As parents we have different memories of the same event. Easter egg hunts mean bleaching out those Easter egg-colored clothes and counter tops; getting up even earlier than the kids; making lots of egg salad sandwiches (with strange colors staining the bread); and finding Easter grass still lurking in corners of the house on the Fourth of July.
But while some of the traditions behind Easter egg hunts have remained the same, there has been one big change that has transformed large community-wide egg hunts, Sunday school class quests, and our own living room look-fors.
Let's get real: we might still color and decorate real eggs. But how many of those actual hard-boiled eggs get taken out of the fridge and hidden in nooks and crannies anymore? Real eggs have been replaced with plastic eggs. The realities of lurking bacteria and potential lawsuits have banished actual eggs from almost every "egg hunt." Instead, plastic eggs filled with store-bought candies have, for the sake of sanity and sanitation, replaced the hand-colored hard-boiled real egg.
In other words rather than searching for an egg, a symbol of new life, we have a petroleum based plastic shell filled with candies made of artificial colors and sweetness. Not a very life-affirming symbol. Not a very Easter-y symbol...
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7. More Hope than We Can Handle
Earlier this week, an old couple received a phone call from their son who lives far away. The son said he was sorry, but he wouldn't be able to come for a visit over the holidays after all. "The grandkids say hello." They assured him that they understood, but when they hung up the phone they didn't dare look at each other.
Earlier this week, a woman was called into her supervisor's office to hear that times are hard for the company and they had to let her go. "So sorry." She cleaned out her desk, packed away her hopes for getting ahead, and wondered what she would tell her kids.
Earlier this week, someone received terrible news from a physician. Someone else heard the words, "I don't love you any more." Earlier this week, someone's hope was crucified. And the darkness is overwhelming.
No one is ever ready to encounter Easter until he or she has spent time in the dark place where hope cannot be seen. Easter is the last thing we are expecting. And that is why it terrifies us. This day is not about bunnies, springtime and girls in cute new dresses. It's about more hope than we can handle.
Craig Barnes, Savior at Large
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8. Yes, There Is Hope
In the early part of World War II, a Navy submarine was stuck on the bottom of the harbor in New York City. It seemed that all was lost. There was no electricity and the oxygen was quickly running out. In one last attempt to rescue the sailors from the steel coffin, the U.S. Navy sent a ship equipped with Navy divers to the spot on the surface, directly above the wounded submarine. A Navy diver went over the side of the ship to the dangerous depths in one last rescue attempt. The trapped sailors heard the metal boots of the diver land on the exterior surface, and they moved to where they thought the rescuer would be. In the darkness they tapped in Morse code, "Is there any hope?" The diver on the outside, recognizing the message, signaled by tapping on the exterior of the sub, "Yes, there is hope."
This is the picture of our dilemma as we worship this glad Easter Day. Humankind is trapped in a dreadful situation. All around we are running low on hope, and we look for a word from beyond offering it to us. This world in which we live is plagued with war and famine, mounting debt and continual destruction. The more we try to rescue ourselves the more we seem to fall behind. We wonder: Is there any hope?
Bill Self, Is There Any Hope?
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9. It Opens on the Dawn
Mary Magdalene came to the tomb while it was still dark. But the darkness was soon overcome with light. Maybe that's the message you need to hear this day. Perhaps for whatever reason you are in darkness right now. Family concerns. Problems at work. Anxiety about your health and your future. The loss of someone you love. Easter promises us more than the stars in our darkness. Easter promises us that in the midst of our deepest darkness the Son rises to overwhelm the darkness forever.
Victor Hugo once put it like this, "For half a century I have been writing my thoughts in prose and verse and history and philosophy . . . But I feel I have not said the thousandth part of what is in me. When I go down to the grave I can say, I have finished my day's work,' but I cannot say, I have finished my life.' My day's work will begin again the next morning. The tomb is not a blind alley; it is a thoroughfare. It closes on the twilight; it opens on the dawn." Mary Magdalene came to the tomb while it was still dark "but the darkness did not remain. The dawn broke. God's Son had risen.
King Duncan
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10. The Easter Choice
When faced with new realities, you have at least three options for how to respond (and it is nearly certain that you will opt for one of these three possibilities). First, you can stay bewildered. You can let this event knock you flat on your back and then stay there. Second, you can engage in world-class denial. You can look at the facts and ignore them. Or third, you can, slowly perhaps, assimilate this new information. You may get knocked as flat on your back as the next person by this new realization, but eventually you pick yourself up. You embrace this new truth and then go through the long, sometimes painful, process of re-assessing life in the light of this new evidence.
This is the Easter choice. When faced with the incredible proclamation that Jesus rose again from the dead, you can be agnostic and cynical by saying that you don't know what to make of this but then neither are you going to try. Who cares anyway? Or you can deny it. The whole thing is fiction, fantasy, a pious wish but something that never really happened. Or you can move past the shock toward acceptance. But let me caution you: if you are going to accept the truth of the bodily resurrection, you need to let it change you totally.
That's the Easter choice. The problem for most of us is that we are not surprised enough by Easter to realize we face a choice. Easter is a part of the background scenery of our lives. We've never been afraid of Easter, never been bewildered by it. Believing that Jesus rose again from the dead becomes a little like believing the earth is round and that it orbits the sun. Once upon a time people didn't know that. They thought the earth was flat and that the sun orbited the earth. It caused quite a stir when this view had to be revised. But that was a long time ago and now we accept that picture of our solar system without much thought. Sure the world is round and we orbit the sun, but what does that have to do with anything? It doesn't change what I have to do at work tomorrow, does it?
Is that what Easter becomes for us? We believe it happened but then, we've always believed that. Even Easter has somehow become part of the "routines" of this world. So why would it have much of an effect on what we do tomorrow? Easter is no longer shocking for us--it surely does not make us re-evaluate everything else we think we know. And anyway, we're not sure we want to have everything in our lives changed.
Of course, if we can believe in the resurrection at all, it is a gift of faith granted to us by the prior gift of grace. But if we have received that grace and accept the truth that gets proclaimed from every Christian pulpit in the world each Easter Sunday morning, then we have to know that this truth changes everything. This is not some fact we can ponder just once every twelve months. This changes everything.... and on EVERY day.
Scott Hoezee, Comments and Observations
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11. The Cape of Good Hope
I can still recall a geography lesson from elementary school in which we learned that the southernmost point of Africa is a point which for centuries has experienced tremendous storms. For many years no one even knew what lay beyond that cape, for no ship attempting to round that point had ever returned to tell the tale. Among the ancients it was known as the "Cape of Storms," and for good reason. But then a Portuguese explorer in the sixteenth century, Vasco De Gama, successfully sailed around that very point and found beyond the wild raging storms, a great calm sea, and beyond that, the shores of India. The name of that cape was changed from the Cape of Storms to the Cape of Good Hope.
Until Jesus Christ rose from the dead, death had been the cape of storms on which all hopes of life beyond had been wrecked. No one knew what lay beyond that point until, on Easter morning, those ancient visions of Isaiah became the victory of Jesus over our last great enemy. Suddenly, like those ancient explorers, we can see beyond the storm to the hope of heaven and eternal life with the Father. More than that, we dare to believe that we shall experience in our own human lives exactly what the Son of God experienced in his, for the risen Christ says to us, "Because I live, you shall live also." This is the heart of the Easter faith.
Robert Beringer, Easter People, CSS Publishing Company
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12. Ongoing Easter
12. Ongoing Easter
Ongoing Easter gets us finally home at last, for life is not an endless circle but life is moving to an end point. The crowning achievement of the risen Lord is to bring us finally home together with the whole family of God in that transition from time into eternity. It is a great privilege to witness that transition in the lives of people and I think of one this Easter day. Her name was Augusta. She lived 100 years, raised in the prairies of South Dakota, faced every manner of hardship and heartache, but was buoyant and lived on the resurrection side of the cross, raised a family. In the last hour of her life standing with her daughters around her in the hospital room, I heard her bless her daughters. Being a mother to the very end and with a twinkle in her eye, looked at the faces of her daughters around her and pointed to them each one and said, "Too much lipstick," and then closed her eyes in peaceful death.
That is the goal toward which the ongoing Easter draws us and transforms our dark, gloomy mornings into a shining doxology. We say with all the faithful of all of the ages, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. By His great mercy, we have been born anew to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance that is imperishable, unfailing and undefiled, kept in heaven for you. Though you must go through various trials, all this is so that your faith may redound to the praise, glory and honor of Jesus Christ. Without having seen Him, we love Him, and rejoice with unutterable and exalted joy. The outcome of your faith is the salvation of your souls.
F. Dean Lueking, Ongoing Easter
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13. Billy Graham responded to someone who shouted out "God is dead! God is dead!" Dr. Graham with tenderness replied, "That's strange because I just talked to Him in prayer a few minutes ago." Yes, the day you believe in the resurrection is the day you change the universe, and most importantly, you can reflect that transforming truth.
Eric S. Ritz
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From Fr. Tony Kadavil's Collection:
1: “He is not here.” Egyptian pyramids are world-famous as one of the “seven Wonders” of the ancient world. But they are actually gigantic tombs containing the mummified bodies of Egyptian Pharaohs. Westminster Abby is famous, and thousands visit it because the dead bodies of famous writers, philosophers and politicians are entombed there. But there is a Shrine of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, and pilgrims from all over the world visit a tomb there which is empty with a note at its entrance which says, “He is not here.” It is famous because Jesus Christ, who was once buried there, rose from the dead, leaving an empty tomb, as He had told his disciples he would. Thus, He worked the most important miracle in His life, defying the laws of nature and proving that He is God. We rejoice at this great and unique event by celebrating Easter. (Fr. J P)
# 2: The greatest comeback in history: In its November 12, 2001 issue, Sports Illustrated ranked the 10 greatest comebacks in world history. Among those making the list, the following names are to be specially noted.
a) Michael Jordan, 1995. Quits basketball, only to make his first triumphant comeback.
b) Muhammad Ali, 1974. Seven years after being stripped of his title and his boxing license, defeats George Foreman in Zaire to win back the belt.
c) Japan and Germany, 1950s. They were the former Axis Powers which rose from the ashes of World War II to become industrial superpowers.
d) Jesus Christ, 33 A.D. Defies Jewish critics and stuns the Romans with his Resurrection. It was the greatest comeback of all time. And He’s been specializing in comebacks ever since.
# 3: The phoenix: The late Catholic Archbishop of Hartford, John Whealon, had undergone cancer surgery resulting in a permanent colostomy when he wrote these very personal words in one of his last Easter messages: “I am now a member of an association of people who have been wounded by cancer. That association has as its symbol the phoenix, a bird of Egyptian mythology. The Greek poet Hesiod, who lived eight centuries before Jesus was born, wrote about this legendary bird in his poetry. When the bird felt its death was near (every 500 to 1,461 years), it would fly off to Phoenicia, build a nest of aromatic wood and set itself on fire. When the bird was consumed by the flames, a new phoenix sprang forth from the ashes. Thus, the phoenix symbolizes immortality, resurrection, and life after death. It sums up the Easter message perfectly. Jesus gave up His life, and from the grave He was raised to life again on the third day. New life rises from the ashes of death. Today we are celebrating Christ’s victory over the grave, the gift of eternal life for all who believe in Jesus. That is why the phoenix bird, one of the earliest symbols of the Risen Christ, also symbolizes our daily rising to new life. Every day, like the phoenix, we rise from the ashes of sin and guilt and are refreshed and renewed by our living Lord and Savior with His forgiveness and the assurance that He still loves us and will continue to give us the strength we need.” Archbishop John Whealon could have lived in a gloomy tomb of self-pity, hopeless defeat, and chronic sadness, but his faith in the Risen Lord opened his eyes to new visions of life.
# 4: “He is risen indeed!”: You probably do not remember the name Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin. Many years ago, he was one of the most powerful men on earth. A Russian Communist leader, he took part in the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. He was the editor of the Soviet newspaper Pravda and was a full member of the Politburo. His works on economics and political science are still read today. There is a story told about a journey he took from Moscow to Kiev in 1930 to address a huge assembly of Communists. The subject was atheism. Addressing the crowd, he attacked Christianity, hurling insults and arguments against it. When he had finished, he looked out at the audience. “Are there any questions?” he demanded. Deafening silence filled the auditorium. Then one man stood up, approached the platform and mounted the lectern. After surveying the crowd, he shouted the ancient greeting of the Russian Orthodox Church: “CHRIST IS RISEN!” The crowd stood up and shouted in a thundering voice: “HE IS RISEN INDEED!” Amazed and dejected, Bukharin left the stage in silence. Finally, he had learned the lesson that Faith in Christ’s Resurrection was deeply rooted in his Russian Orthodox Communist followers!
1) “TA-DA!” A Sunday school teacher had just finished telling her third graders about how Jesus was crucified and placed in a tomb with a great stone sealing the opening. Then, wanting to share the excitement of the resurrection, she asked: “And what do you think were Jesus’ first words when He came bursting out of that tomb alive?” A hand shot up into the air from the rear of the classroom. Attached to it was the arm of a little girl. Leaping out of her chair she shouted out excitedly “I know, I know!” “Good” said the teacher, “Tell us, what were Jesus first words?” And extending her arms high into the air she said: “TA-DA!”
2) Mother-in-law in Jerusalem: George went on a vacation to the Middle East with most of his family including his mother-in-law. During their vacation and while they were visiting Jerusalem, George’s mother-in-law died. With the death certificate in hand, George went to the American Consulate to make arrangements to send the body back to the States for proper burial. The Consul, after hearing of the death of the mother-in-law, told George that the sending of a body back to the States for burial is very, very expensive. It could cost as much as $5,000. The Consul continued, “In most cases the person responsible for the remains normally decides to bury the body here. This would only cost $150.” George thought for some time and answered, “I don’t care how much it will cost to send the body back; that’s what I want to do.” The Consul, after hearing this, said, “You must have loved your mother-in-law very much, considering the difference in price.” “No, it’s not that!” said George. “You see, I know of a case many years ago of a person, by name Jesus, who was buried here in Jerusalem. On the third day he arose from the dead. I just can’t take that chance.”
3) “See what happens.” One lady wrote in to a question-and-answer forum. “Dear Sirs, our preacher said on Easter, that Jesus just swooned on the cross and that the disciples nursed Him back to health. What do you think? Sincerely, Bewildered.
Dear Bewildered, beat your preacher with a cat-of-nine-tails, nail him to a cross; hang him in the sun for 6 hours; run a spear through his side…put him in an airless tomb for 36 hours and see what happens.” Sincerely, Charles.
Dear Bewildered, beat your preacher with a cat-of-nine-tails, nail him to a cross; hang him in the sun for 6 hours; run a spear through his side…put him in an airless tomb for 36 hours and see what happens.” Sincerely, Charles.
3) Rented for a weekend: Joseph of Arimathea was a very wealthy Pharisee, a member of the council, and a secret follower of Jesus. It was Joseph who went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body after the crucifixion. And it was Joseph who supplied the tomb for Jesus’ burial. I wonder if someone pulled him aside and said, “Joseph that was such beautiful, costly, hand-hewn tomb. Why on earth did you give it to someone else to be buried in?” “Why not?” Joseph may have answered. “He only needed it for the weekend.”
4) Resurrection in election: Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee was once asked if he believed in resurrection. “Of course, I do,” said Huckabee. “Dead people vote in every election we have in Arkansas. Resurrection is very real to us.”
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1) “The Godfather of Fitness.” You may recall years ago when fitness legend Jack LaLanne celebrated his seventieth birthday by towing 70 boats containing 70 people for a mile across Long Beach Harbor. Amazing! But wait. He did it by holding the rope in his teeth. Why? Well, he was handcuffed and wearing leg shackles! Unbelievable! LaLanne was still going strong in his nineties. But friends, “The Godfather of Fitness” died on Jan 23, 2011 at ninety-six, proving that this world is not our final destination. It is but a prelude to a grander production. This world is a preparatory school. Without the Resurrection, it is simply impossible to explain a world in which people suffer and die. But the Resurrection is real. Christ rose from the dead. Christ is still alive and He is available in our world today
2) Bright light in the “black holes” of life: Have you ever heard of a “black hole”? If you have ever watched movies or TV programs about travelling in outer space, like the TV series Star Trek, you will know what a black hole is. Roughly speaking, it is a spot in the vastness of space which, astronomers believe, is like a giant vacuum or whirlpool sucking everything around it into the hole. Using Newton’s laws, scientists first theorized black holes in the 1790s but it wasn’t until 1994 that the Hubble Space Telescope discovered a massive supersized black hole – fortunately a long way from our own galaxy. There is also a black hole in our galaxy, the Milky Way. What if scientists said that it was not beyond the realms of possibility that one day our sun and everything around it would be sucked into this “black hole,” and everything would be gone? “Black holes” are symbols of hopelessness, and the message of Easter tells us that there is something beyond those “black holes”. Maybe this “black hole” includes grief for a loved one, anxiety over a work situation or what is happening in our family. Maybe it is a “black hole” of depression and stress, and we feel there is nothing we can do to change what is happening. Maybe it’s the “black hole” of sickness and pain. Maybe it’s the “black hole” of guilt and failure. Whether those “black holes” are right here and now or show up at some time in the future, Easter tells us there is hope, there is a living Saviour and Friend who will help us when we feel as if we have been sucked into the deepest darkness. Easter tells us that there is nothing to fear. We have a risen Saviour who promises never to leave us, to love us always, always to brighten our darkest paths, and to guide us from death to eternal life in Heaven. Even when we are in the middle of something deep and dark, our risen Saviour will always be there with us. “I am the Living One! I was dead, but now I am alive forever and ever. I have authority over death and the world of the dead” (Revelation 1:8). http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/space/universe/black-holes-article/
# 3: Empty Tomb: Easter celebrations lead us to an empty tomb! The coffin of President Abraham Lincoln has been opened twice since his death. The first time it was opened in 1887, twenty years after his death. Why was it opened? Because of the rumour that the coffin did not contain Lincoln’s body. It was opened and the body in it was proven to be Lincoln’s. Fourteen years later, the same rumors circulated again. Again, the coffin was opened, and again, the body was proved to be Abraham Lincoln’s. Similar rumors circulated about the body of Jesus after his death. The only difference was that Jesus’ body was not in the tomb. Today’s Gospel does not present us with the risen Christ. Instead it presents us with the empty tomb! The angel asks: “Why are you looking for the living among the dead?” Unfortunately, we humans are still looking for the living among the dead. (John Pichappilly in The Table of the Word; quoted by Fr. Botelho).
4) “We believe you.” There is a beautiful story told recently about a woman named Rosemary who works in the Alzheimer’s Unit of a nursing home. Rosemary and a colleague named Arlene brought the residents of the home together one Good Friday afternoon to view Franco Zeffirelli’s acclaimed production, Jesus of Nazareth. They wondered whether these elderly Alzheimer’s patients would even know what was going on, but they thought it might be worth the effort. When they finally succeeded in getting everyone into position, they started the video. Rosemary was pleasantly surprised at the quiet attention being paid to the screen. At last came the scene where Mary Magdalene comes upon the empty tomb and sees Jesus’ body not there. An unknown man, in reality the risen Christ, asks Mary why she is looking for the living among the dead. Mary runs as fast as she can back to the disciples and tells Peter and the rest with breathless excitement, “He’s alive! I saw Him, I tell you! He’s alive.” The doubt in their eyes causes Mary to pull back. “You don’t believe me . . . You don’t believe me!” From somewhere in the crowd of Alzheimer’s patients came the clear, resolute voice of Esther, one of the patients. “WE BELIEVE YOU,” she said, “WE BELIEVE YOU!” [Rosemary Kadrmas in Jeff Cavins, et.al, Amazing Grace for the Catholic Heart (West Chester, PA: Ascension Press, LLC, 2003), pp. 211-212.]
5) The killers asked her if there was anyone [in the classroom] who had faith in Christ. A day after the terrible tragedy at Columbine High, CNN journalist Larry King did a live interview with a teenage girl named Mickie Cain, a student who had witnessed the massacre. Mickie was having a difficult time maintaining her composure and was able to blurt out only a few words before lapsing into uncontrollable sobs. Larry King was patient and gave her plenty of time to regain her composure. Mickie recounted the chilling story: “Let me tell you about my friend Cassie,” she said. “[Cassie] was amazing . . . She completely stood up for God when the killers asked her if there was anyone [in the classroom] who had faith in Christ. She spoke up [and said she did] and they shot her for it.” [Franklin Graham, The Name (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 2002), pp. 14-15]. Such a testimony as Cassie made that day makes our witness look pretty pathetic, doesn’t it? The critical question is, would you make such a sacrifice for something that you knew was patently untrue? Of course not. And neither would those early disciples of Christ. They had met Christ, Risen from the grave, and they would not testify otherwise, even while being tortured. The witnesses are so credible, the change in their lives so dramatic, that their testimony cannot be disregarded.
6) Cape of Good Hope: You may remember a geography lesson from elementary school in which you learned that the southernmost point of Africa is a point which for centuries has experienced tremendous storms. For many years no one knew what lay beyond that cape, for no ship attempting to round that point had ever returned to tell the tale. Among the ancients it was known as the “Cape of Storms,” and for good reason. But in 1497 a Portuguese explorer, Vasco Da Gama, successfully sailed East around that very point and found beyond the wild raging storms, a great calm sea, and beyond that, the shores of India. The name of that cape was changed from the Cape of Storms to the Cape of Good Hope. Until Jesus Christ rose from the dead, death had been the “cape of storms” on which all hopes of life beyond had been wrecked. No one knew what lay beyond that point until, on Easter morning, Jesus arose. The ancient visions of Isaiah became the victory of Jesus over our last great enemy. Like those sixteenth century explorers, we can see beyond human death to the hope of Heaven and eternal life with the Father. More than that, we dare to believe that we shall experience in our own human lives exactly what the Son of God experienced in His, for the Risen Christ says to us, “Because I live, you shall live also.” This is the heart of our Faith.
7) “I choose death….by old age.” Long ago, there was an exceedingly clever court jester at the court of the Caliph of Baghdad. For years he’d never failed to amuse the court whenever they called him. But one day, in a split second of carelessness, he offended the caliph who ordered him put to death. “However,” said the caliph, “in consideration of your many years of fine and faithful service, I’ll let you choose how you wish to die.” “Oh, mighty Caliph,” replied the jester. “I thank you for your great kindness. I choose death….by old age.” Wouldn’t we all! But that just delays the big question: Then what? What comes after you finally die at the age of 110 on the tennis court? Only Jesus has the answer. He says, “I am the Resurrection and the Life. Whoever believes in Me, even though he die, will live with Me forever.” (Msgr. D. Clarke)
8) He always whistled: Have you heard the story of the man whose hobby was growing roses? When he worked in his rose garden, he always whistled. It seemed to everyone that he was whistling much louder than was needed for his own enjoyment. One day a neighbor asked him why it was that he always whistled so loudly. The man then took the neighbor into his home to meet his wife. The woman was not only an invalid but was completely blind as well. The man, you see, was whistling, not for his benefit, but rather for the benefit of his wife. He wanted his blind wife to know that he was nearby, and that she was not alone. That story is a wonderful illustration of the significance of Easter Day. The affirmation, “Christ is risen!” reminds us that God is near, and the experiencing of His presence strengthens us in our weakness. (Donald William Dotterer, Living the Easter Faith,).
9) And so the Iron Lady wept. In 1984, when Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister of Britain, a terrorist’s bomb exploded in the conference room where many of the government meetings were held. Margaret Thatcher survived this blast, but some of her cabinet members were killed. The following Sunday, Margaret Thatcher went to Church as she always did. But that particular Sunday seemed different. As Margaret Thatcher sang the hymns, listened to the message, saw the candles upon the altar and the sunshine streaming through the stained-glass windows, she began to weep. She wept because everything around her had been changed by the loss of her friends. The familiar had now become strange. The goodness and beauty of the world around her seemed almost too much to bear. She knew she would not only miss her friends, but also the wonderful times they had had together. And so the Iron Lady wept. If we can relate to Maggie Thatcher’s grief, maybe we can relate to the grief of Jesus’ disciples and friends on that first Easter morning.
10) “I want to see your Resurrection!” Father Basil Pennington, a Catholic monk, tells of an encounter he once had with a teacher of Zen. Pennington was at a retreat. As part of the retreat, each person met privately with this Zen teacher. Pennington says that at his meeting the Zen teacher sat there before him smiling from ear to ear and rocking gleefully back and forth. Finally, the teacher said: “I like Christianity. But I would not like Christianity without the Resurrection. I want to see your Resurrection!” Pennington notes that, “With his directness, the teacher was saying what everyone else implicitly says to Christians: ‘You are a Christian. You are risen with Christ. Show me (what this means for you in your life) and I will believe.’ (http://www.stjohnslaverne.org/SermonReadingArchive/OmernickEasterSundaySermon2006.rtf.) Marilyn Omernick.] That is how people know if the Resurrection is true or not. Does it affect how we live?
11) “Do you mean like Elvis?” A father was explaining to his five-year-old son how Jesus died and then, on the third day, rose from the dead. “That’s what we believe,” the father said. “That’s how we know Jesus is the Son of God, because He came back from the dead just as He said He would.” “Do you mean like Elvis?” the boy replied. Well, no. Not exactly like Elvis. This is a new world. People nowadays believe just about everything, except that which is most true. We have to work a little bit harder in this new world to help people
12) From the empty tomb: It was a hot summer afternoon. The famous Hollywood film director Cecil B. DeMille was drifting in a canoe on a lake in Maine, reading a book. He looked away from the book momentarily, down to the lake. There a bunch of water beetles were at play. Suddenly one of the beetles began to crawl up the side of the canoe. When it got halfway up, it attached the talons of its legs to the wooden side of the canoe and died. DeMille watched for a minute; then he turned back to his book. About three hours later, DeMille looked down at the dead beetle again. What he saw amazed him. The beetle had dried up, and its back was starting to crack open. As he watched, something began to emerge from the opening: first a moist head, then wings. It was a beautiful dragonfly. DeMille sat there in awe. Then the dragonfly began to move its wings. It hovered gracefully over the water where the other beetles were at play. But they didn’t recognize the dragonfly. They didn’t realize that it was the same beetle they had played with three hours earlier. DeMille took his finger and nudged the dried-out shell of the beetle. It was like an empty tomb (Mark Link in Sunday Homilies)
13) Easter: surprising or amazing? There is an old story about Noah Webster, who wrote the famous dictionary that bears his name. As you can imagine, he was a stickler for the precise use of language. He was also something of a womanizer. One day he was in the pantry kissing the maid when Mrs. Webster walked in on them. Mrs. Webster said, “Why, Noah, I’m surprised.” Noah said, “No, my dear. We’re surprised. You’re amazed.” (Mark Trotter, “Do You Amaze Anybody?”, May 22, 1988). I think the story is apocryphal. I’m sure Mr. Webster was a stickler for the right word, but when you look in his own Webster’s Dictionary, he says surprise is a synonym for amaze. Amaze is the stronger word. Easter is both surprising and amazing. Here is God’s ultimate act of love and power. It is an act of love that has gone to its limit in Jesus’ gift of Himself on the cross. It is an act of power that bursts the tomb and announces to the world that Love is stronger than hate, Good prevails over evil, and Life is triumphant over death.
14)“Suppose he isn't in there!” Two famous Broadway producers were pallbearers at the funeral of the great escape artist, Harry Houdini. As they lifted the beautiful and heavy casket to their shoulders, one of them turned and whispered to the other, “Suppose he isn’t in there!” He was, of course. Only one man in human history has conquered the grave, and it is He Whom we call Lord. “Christ has been raised from the dead,” writes St. Paul, “the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep” (I Corinthians 15:20). What deliriously good news that is! No wonder our Church is full on Easter Sunday! That is news that turns the world upside down. Jesus Christ is risen!
15) Resurrection Bay: In the movie The Hunt for Red October, the opening scene was filmed in Resurrection Bay, Alaska. This dramatic setting received its name in 1792 when the Russian trader and explorer Alexandr Baranov was forced to find refuge there during a vicious storm on Easter Sunday. Resurrection Bay has the distinction of remaining ice-free even in the dead of winter. Even in squalls and storms, it provides safe harbor. As Christians, we anchor our souls in Resurrection Bay. The world may be caught in a thousand tempests, and storms may arise from all directions. But the empty tomb assures us of tranquility and a passageway to Heaven that will never ice over. Jesus died and rose again to give us peace with God and the peace of God — life both eternal and abundant. We anchor our souls in the haven of rest. (Turning Point)
16) Many infallible proofs: Albert L. Roper was a prominent Virginia attorney, a graduate of the University of Virginia and its law school, who eventually became mayor of the city of Norfolk. He once began a thorough legal investigation into the evidence for the Resurrection of Christ, asking himself the question: “Can any intelligent person accept the Resurrection story?” After examining the evidence at length, he came away asking a different question: “Can any intelligent person deny the weight of this evidence?” Even those who traveled for three years with Jesus experienced disbelief over His Resurrection, but Jesus showed Himself alive by many infallible proofs. We don’t base our Faith on legends, myths, or fairy tales. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is well-documented, and many critics have been silenced (and even converted) when they’ve carefully investigated the evidence [Albert L. Roper, Did Jesus Rise From the Dead (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1965), foreword.] We have a Risen Savior! He offers Himself to us today with many infallible proofs. (Turning Point-3/29/13)
17) Joke Saturday: According to an ancient Russian Orthodox tradition, the day before Easter was devoted to telling jokes. Priests would join the people in telling their best jokes to one another (presumably “clean” jokes!!) The reason was to reflect the joke God pulled on the devil in the Resurrection. Satan thought he won on Friday, but God had the last laugh on Easter Sunday.
18) He is no longer in the grave: In 1887, twenty-two years after the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, his coffin was dug up and opened because there were constant rumors that his body was not in the grave. So they dug it up and the body was there. The rumors continued so 14 years later they had to dig it up again. Both times witnesses were present who testified that Lincoln was still in the grave. Three days after the death of Jesus Christ, similar rumors began to spread throughout the land of Israel. Only this time there were no witnesses who could say that they had seen His body. In fact, to the contrary, many witnesses claimed to have seen him out of His grave and even talked with Him after the Resurrection. As great a man as Lincoln was, there were witnesses to prove he was still in the grave. If one of our Presidents or another leader in our government were to cry out today to Lincoln for help, there would be no response. If a scientist were to cry out to Einstein for help today there would only be empty silence. If someone were to call out to Mohammed or Buddha or Gandhi today there would be no help. But if you and I call out to Jesus Christ there is instant power available to us… power to change lives …why? Because He lives! (Rev. David Henderson).
19) The parable of the butterfly: As a butterfly soared overhead, one caterpillar said to the other, “You’ll never get me up in one of those things!” Yet for every caterpillar the time comes when the urge to eat and grow subsides and he instinctively begins to form a chrysalis around himself. The chrysalis hardens and you’d think for all the world that the caterpillar was dead. But one spring morning the life inside the chrysalis will begin to writhe, the top will crack open, and a beautifully-formed butterfly will emerge. For hours it will stand stretching and drying its wings, moving them slowly up and down, up and down. And then, before you know it, the butterfly will glide aloft, effortlessly riding the currents of the air, alighting on flower after gorgeous flower, as if to show off its vivid colors to the bright blossoms. Somehow, the miracle of the butterfly never loses its fascination for us. Perhaps that is because the butterfly is a living parable of the promise of Resurrection. On Easter morning, the disciples saw Jesus’ grave-clothes lying on the cold slab — empty, but still lying in the wrapped folds that had gone round and round the corpse. Only the corpse was gone, leaving the grave-clothes much like an empty chrysalis deserted by a butterfly, which has left to soar free. “He is risen as He said,” an angel told the incredulous disciples.
20) “Which one would you ask which way to go?'” Dr. Seamands tells of a Muslim who became a Christian in Africa. “Some of his friends asked him, ‘Why have you become a Christian?’ He answered, ‘Well, it’s like this. Suppose you were going down the road and suddenly the road forked in two directions, and you didn’t know which way to go, and there at the fork in the road were two men, one dead and one alive–which one would you ask which way to go?'”
21) A real Easter egg: A small chick begins the long journey to birth. The not-yet-a-bird weighs little more than air; its beak and claws are barely pin pricks. The bird-to-be is in its own little world: protected by the rigid shell, warmed by the mother hen’s body, nourished by the nutrients within the egg’s membrane. But then the chick begins the work of life. Over several days the chick keeps picking and picking until it can break out from its narrow world — and into an incomparably wider one. But for this to happen, the egg has to go to pieces. New life demands shattering the old. That is the real Easter egg. Not a complete egg dyed and painted with so many designs and colors. Not an egg that has been hardboiled, impossible to shatter. Not an egg made of chocolate. The real Easter egg is shattered and destroyed. The real Easter egg exists in broken pieces. The real Easter egg is cracked and opened, revealing the new life that has emerged. For centuries, the world has marked the Resurrection of the Lord with eggs. But the Easter meaning of the egg is found in the struggle of the chick to free itself from its confines so as to begin life in a much bigger world beyond it. We struggle to break out of a world that we perceive is going to pieces; we pick away at an existence that leaves us dissatisfied and unfulfilled. The promise of the Easter Christ is that we can break out of our self-contained little worlds and begin to live in a world where peace and justice reign, a world illuminated by hope and warmed by love, a world that extends beyond time and place into the forever of God’s dwelling place. [From a meditation by Brother David Steindl-Rast, O.S.B.].
22) “Is there hope?” On December 17, 1927, a Navy Submarine, USS S-4, off Provincetown, MA, was accidentally rammed by a US Coast Guard cutter as the sub was surfacing, following a “series submerged runs over a measured mile course to facilitate calibration of her of speed- and distance measuring equipments.” The cutter had tried unsuccessfully to avoid the collision but tore two holes in the side of the sub, “one four feet long and two feet high in the ruptured ballast tank and the other 2-and-a-half feet long by a foot high in the battery compartment pressure hull.” The sub sank, bow first and settled on her keel in 102 feet on mud. There were heavy seas, gale winds and freezing temperatures. Portsmouth Navy yard called in naval and civilian personnel to begin salvage on the sub. They readied the USS Bushnell, a tender, which arrive the next morning, joining other rescue ships, some of them local fishing boats. Captain Ernest J. King took command. (Robert Loys Sminkey, Commander USN Retired) http://www.subvetpaul.com/USS-S-4.htm. With him was Signalman Joe Dawson who had just completed a temporary assignment on the S-4 (and was replaced there by his best friend, Walter Tolson). Dawson had come from the USS Camden where he had been preparing for his Christmas leave.
In 1997, at 90, as the last survivor of the USS-S-4, Dawson related the story of the rescue attempt:The first diver to go down, Commander Ellsberg, returned, reporting the hole and “no sign of life.” The next morning “divers Edie and Carr heard tappings in the forward torpedo room. They found out there were six men living. Their message to Edi and Carr was, ‘Is there hope? Please hurry, please!’” “The divers were then ordered to connect oxygen hoses to the S-4. Three or four time the sea tore the hoses from the S-4, endangering the lives of the divers. They decided to wait until the weather subsided. The men could only live 72 hours without the oxygen we were trying to get to them. The last message sent by the submariners was hard to decipher. It said, ‘We understand’… and that was the last we heard from them.” (ibid., Dawson letter).
This is the picture of our dilemma as we worship on this glad Easter Day. Humankind is trapped in a dreadful situation. All around we are running low on hope, and we look for a word from beyond offering it to us. This world in which we live is plagued with war and famine, mounting debt and continual destruction. The more we try to rescue ourselves the more we seem to fall behind. We wonder. (Rev. Bill Self). With the Apostles, we are locked securely in our upper room, trembling in fear of the forces of evil – secularism, materialism, atheism, selfishness — which assail us and our world. With the submariners we ask, “Is there hope? Please hurry, please. “And we are answered. Here He stands, in our midst though the room is still locked. He says, “Peace be with you!” showing us His wounded hands and side, and letting us rejoice that it is truly He, Alive! Then He says to us again, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent Me, so I send you.” Then we understand that He is our hope, now and forever. Alleluia! HE IS RISEN!
23) Unfinished Till Broken: A story is told of an Eastern village that, through the centuries, was known for its exquisite pottery. Especially striking were its urns; high as tables, wide as chairs, they were admired around the globe for their strong form and delicate beauty. Legend has it that when each urn was apparently finished, there was one final step. The artist broke it – and then put it back together with gold filigree. An ordinary urn was then transformed into a priceless work of art. What seemed finished wasn’t, until it was broken. In the same way, Jesus allowed his body to be broken for us and thus attained the glory of his Resurrections. (Steve Goodier; quoted by(Fr. Botelho).
24) Lord of Life: Dr. Jayant Patel, an Indo-American was dubbed ‘doctor of death’ because he faced charges of manslaughter in over 800 cases in the USA and Australia. Dr. Patel allegedly lied about his medical qualifications and performed operations causing innumerable deaths. Similarly, Dr. Amit Kumar performed illegal kidney operations on about 500 poor unsuspecting victims and sold their kidneys to rich recipients from the West. History abounds with such ‘doctors of death’ besides leaders like Hitler and the so-called ‘butcher of the Balkans’ Slobodan Milosevic. Besides these killers, we too consciously or unconsciously – promote death rather than life. Conversely, Easter exhorts everyone to celebrate the Lord of Life and defy death. (Francis Gonsalves in Sunday Seeds for Daily Deeds; quoted by Fr. Botelho).
25) Do Not Be Amazed: The Fourth Wise Man is a movie made for television and based on Henry Van Dyke’s 1895 classic. It begins like a Christmas story but ends as an Easter story. Martin Sheen stars as the fourth wise man, Artaban, who was late for the journey the three wise men made to Bethlehem because he stopped along the way to help someone in trouble. For the next 33 years, he tried to find the promised Messiah, only to miss him at every turn because he was constantly getting sidetracked to help people. In his last efforts to find Jesus, Artaban arrived late one more time at the crucifixion. Jesus has just died on the cross. At that moment the earthquake occurs and Artaban is struck by a falling tile. As he lies there dying, he is broken-hearted because his quest to find the Messiah was never realized. Suddenly, the Risen Lord appears to him. Jesus tells him that for the past 33 years he had, in fact, been found by the fourth wise man in the person of all the people this wise man had helped. Whatever Artaban had done to the least of the Lord’s people, that he had done to Jesus himself. This Easter story is retold in another form in today’s Gospel. Instead of three wise men seeking the Lord, with the fourth wise man coming along late, we have three women coming to the tomb, seeking the Lord who has been crucified. (Albert Cylwicki in His Word Resounds; quoted by Fr. Botelho).
