Jesus Christ is risen! May God’s choicest blessings be upon you this Easter! May the new life won for us in the death and resurrection of Jesus transform the hearts of all the faithful of the Diocese of Cleveland. It is my fervent prayer that in our marriages, families, friendships and parishes we will more powerfully share with one another the love that God has revealed to us in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ this Easter.
God’s love is at the very heart of our Easter faith. However, this may not always be our first impression. The magnificent rituals and traditions of the Church’s Easter celebration seem to highlight the power of God, the sacrifice of Jesus, and the miracle of resurrection. But it is the invincible, unique, and tender love of God for all his children that truly lies beneath and behind our Christian Easter faith.
God’s love is unlike any other love. As the great readings of the Easter Vigil remind us, God’s love is a creative love that had to be shared with those formed in His image and likeness. God’s love is a persistent love that never tires of seeking out each and every person to remain in union with Him. God’s love is a mighty and transforming power in the world that will not be outdone by earthly kingdoms or principalities. God’s love is a healing, merciful, and forgiving balm that repairs the injury caused by sin. Most clearly, God’s love is a sacrificial gift of self which we see, celebrate, and encounter in the person of Jesus, in His Body the Church, and in His Most Blessed Sacrament, the Eucharist.
Just last evening we entered into the Easter Triduum with the Holy Thursday celebration of the Mass of the Lord’s Supper. As in every Mass, we recall what Jesus did on the night before he died. The act of breaking and giving bread was joined forever to the words, “Take and eat, this is my body.” The act of sharing wine was joined forever to the words, “This is my blood ... which will be shed on behalf of many.”
When supper was ended Jesus went and confirmed those words, made them eternally true, by offering his flesh for the life of the world and shedding his blood for the forgiveness of sin. This is the love that God has for us; the likes of which we had never seen, never known.
Jesus Christ turned the act of dying into the greatest act of loving. In his resurrection this transformation is complete: when we eat this bread and drink this cup we encounter and are engaged by the self-giving love of God which is now ours forever.
Every Eucharist, then, is the Easter Mystery made present and powerful in the Church, in our lives, in the world. Every Eucharist, then, is the love of God made present and visible for all people. This Easter Mystery, this Paschal Mystery as it is called, is the special love of God given for the life of the world.
This is great and Good News! For those of us who believe in Jesus Christ, dying has been conquered by loving. “O death, where is your sting?” In Christ, death has lost its power to conquer us, to terminate us, to cancel us from the face of the earth. In Jesus Christ risen from the dead, the way to eternal life has been gained—our faith in the Lord Jesus and with His help loving God and our neighbor. This is how much God loves us, by showing us the way; the way of Jesus for He is the Way. He does all this as He lives and longs to love us for all eternity. Grateful for the Easter Mystery may we live to the best of our ability this Easter faith today.
The opening prayer of this Easter Sunday’s Mass summarizes well this hope and love of God. “God our Father, by raising Christ from the dead, you conquered the power of death and opened for us the way to eternal life.” The prayer goes on to encourage all of us that “our celebration today raise us up and renew our lives by the Spirit that is within us.” That is the love of God, that is our Easter faith, that is cause for great rejoicing. Blessed Easter to all!