Easter Sunday 2020

 April 12, 2020: Easter Sunday | National Catholic Reporter
 
 
On this special day, Christians around the world greet each other with: "The Lord is Risen" and the response will be: "He is Risen indeed!" The resurrection is a unique event in human history. I will agree that one cannot or will not embrace that uniqueness without faith. The faith that goes beyond any human understanding. It was the faith that kept John, one Jesus' disciple, at the foot of the cross. It was the same faith that took Mary Magdalene, who was also at the foot of the cross, to the tomb before anyone else.

But it ought to be more than faith. Love ought to have much to deal with this. When many others were either hiding it running, John's love for Jesus made him stay. Mary's love for Jesus gave her the desire to be there for him and to take care of him. "Love is stronger than death" is what we hear sometimes at wedding ceremonies. The love that Mary had for Jesus is based on how much she understood how much she was loved. His death didn't destroy that love. Jesus called her with her first name when she encountered him at the empty tomb on the day of the resurrection.

In the book "Song of Solomon" there is a beautiful passage about the love between two lovers: "Set me as a seal on your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is stronger than death. Its jealousy is lasting overcomes the power of death. Love burns like a blazing fire. It blazes like a mighty flame. No flood can extinguish love nor rivers submerge it." This kind of love shows hope, another important aspect of my Christian journey. The resurrection tells me that God is longing for my relationship with him. It is like the father who waited faithfully for the return of his younger son in the Parable of the Prodigal son. God understands my broken conditions and longs to redeem me.

So Easter is really about a relationship one can have with God in faith, love, and hope. My faith at the end is not an academic thesis but a love story and "Love defeats Death" is the central theme of the story. It is a hopeful love story.

"Happy Easter" or "Jesus is Risen".

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!"
(2 Corinthians 5:17)

 

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