While it was still dark on that first Easter morning, Mary Magdalene bravely made her way to the tomb in which the body of Jesus was placed after His Death on the Cross.
She went to complete the rites of anointing for the dead, which because of the Sabbath restrictions, were not done on Friday. She found the tomb empty and despaired that someone had removed the body of Jesus. Then, beyond all expectation, she heard her name, “Mary,” and recognized Jesus, alive, risen from the dead.
An ancient Easter Sequence, a hymn sung before the Gospel on Solemnities, “Victimae Paschali Laudes,” addresses Mary about that experience. “Tell us Mary, what did you see?” To which she responds, “Christ, my HOPE, is risen.” Mary experiences hope from her encounter with the Risen Lord. “Christ, my HOPE is risen.” May this Easter Sunday and the Fifty Days of this Easter Season renew in you that same hope that Mary Magdalene experienced on the first Easter.
God did not abandon Jesus in death, nor does God abandon you. Sin and death are defeated on the Cross of Christ. Through Baptism, you share in that Easter victory. You can know hope despite experiencing the effects of both sin and death. What Easter did for Mary Magdalene, it can do for you – touch you with hope, which bears to you the face of Jesus. It is not abstract. It is an encounter with the Risen Lord born of faith.
Václav Havel, a playwright and former president of the Czech Republic, wrote about hope: it “is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense no matter how it turns out.”
Meaninglessness is not the last word for those to whom the Resurrection of Jesus at Easter brings hope. The “Catechism of the Catholic Church” teaches, “Hope keeps us from discouragement; sustains us during time of abandonment; preserves us from selfishness, and leads to happiness.” (#1818)
The sorrows, cruelties and difficulties of everyday life can lay heavily on our hearts, minds and souls. Easter is God’s new creation, and it has the potential to recreate us. It is God’s work in Jesus and by faith in us.
Emily Dickinson in her poem, “Hope Is the Thing With Feathers,” wrote that like a bird, hope flies in and “perches in the soul.” May hope perch in your soul as you celebrate Easter Sunday and throughout the Easter Season.
May HOPE nest in your life so that you, too, can confess with Easter faith, “Christ, my Hope is Risen.”
Most Reverend Dennis J. Sullivan, D.D.
Bishop of Camden