This is the Day!

Easter Sunday

12 April 2020

First reading                                                                        Acts 10:34, 37-43
Peter began to speak to them: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear, not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

Second reading                                                         Colossians 3:1-4

If you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.

Gospel                                                                     John 20:1-9

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb.

The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus” head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to their homes.

Reflection

By Grace B. Madriñan

By the time you read this reflection, the enhanced community quarantine is about to end (hopefully) and we will back to our normal lives again.  But should we?

Can we really go back to our normal lives that easily? I hope we don’t rush into the norm without bringing the lessons with us.  I hope we go back to the norm that is worth going back for.

We will put higher respect to where it is due – respect for our front liners: the doctors, the nurses, the health care workers, our policemen and military officers.  We have now distinguished the true servant leaders and uncovered the rotten ones based on their actions (or lack of).  May we go back more responsible for our actions and put less value on things. May we appreciate and nurture the relationships we have built during the downtime.

Today’s Gospel reading is the greatest news of all.  After three days of mourning, the disciples have discovered an empty tomb.  Later they are about to learn of the risen Lord.  Their lives will never be the same again.  They can never go back to how it was before.  The Lord is risen, death is defeated. Humanity is saved!

“This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad!”   This is the happy cry of the Lord’s resurrection. May we shout the same praise when we finally go out of quarantine, renewed with a different kind of faith.

Prayer

Father, thank You for this day! We glorify Your name for You have held Your nation through this crisis.  With the risen Christ, we will rise above this pandemic with unity and bolder faith. Amen.