Easter Sunday

Call: He is Risen!  Response: He is Risen, Indeed! 

So goes the old Greek dialogue between Christians during the Easter season. 

As we sang at the Easter Vigil, "This is the night…" when Jesus conquered sin and death through his victorious resurrection from the dead! 

This is our passover feast,
when Christ, the true Lamb, is slain,
whose blood consecrates the homes of all believers.

This is the night
when first you saved our fathers:
you freed the people of Israel from their slavery
and led them dry-shod through the sea.

This is the night
when the pillar of fire destroyed the darkness of sin!

This is the night
when Christians everywhere,
washed clean of sin and freed from all defilement,
are restored to grace and grow together in holiness.

This is the night
when Jesus Christ broke the chains of death
and rose triumphant from the grave.

It is we who are witnesses to this night of glory, this Easter Day, "the first day of the week" (John 20:1), when Our Lord passed from death to life, rising bodily from the dead.  Ever since this Day, "the culmination of history is anticipated 'as a foretaste,' and the kingdom of God enters into our time" (CCC 1168).

 

The New Creation has begun in Jesus' bodily resurrection.  This is why "the readings of the Easter Vigil, the celebration of the new creation in Christ, begin with the creation account" (CCC 281).  Because "sin when it is full-grown brings forth death" (James 1:15), Christ's victory isn't merely over some ethereal sin out there someplace, but over sin as it manifests itself bodily, physically, concretely in our world. 

 

So it is that when the Son of God took flesh the blind began to see, lepers were cleansed, the dead rose from their graves.  Jesus is "the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep" (1 Cor. 15:20). 

 

"Therefore Easter is not simply one feast among others, but the 'Feast of feasts,' the 'Solemnity of solemnities,' just as the Eucharist is the 'Sacrament of sacraments' (the Great Sacrament). St. Athanasius calls Easter 'the Great Sunday' and the Eastern Churches call Holy Week 'the Great Week.' The mystery of the Resurrection, in which Christ crushed death, permeates with its powerful energy our old time, until all is subjected to him" (CCC 1169).  

 

This New Creation, this "imperishable" seed (cf. 1 Peter 1:23), has taken root in us through our baptism into Christ's death and resurrection.  We might begin our joy in this Easter season by  asking the Lord where His New Creation needs to grow in our lives, in our families, in our communities.  A blessed Easter to you all!

 

Call: He is Risen!