On Easter Sunday, the Church is recollected in contemplation of the risen Christ. Thus she relives the primordial experience that lies at the basis of her existence. She feels imbued with the same wonder as Mary Magdalen and the other women who went to Christ's tomb on Easter morning and found it empty. That tomb became the womb of life. Whoever had condemned Jesus, deceived himself that he had buried his cause under an ice-cold tombstone.
The disciples themselves gave into the feeling of irreparable failure. We understand their surprise, then, and even their distrust in the news of the empty tomb. But the Risen One did not delay in making himself seen and they yielded to reality.
They saw and believed! Two thousand years later, we still sense the unspeakable emotion that overcame them when they heard the Master's greeting: "Peace be with you.'".......Christ's Resurrection is the strength, the secret of Christianity.
It is not a question of mythology or of mere symbolism, but of a concrete event. It is confirmed by sure and convincing proofs. The acceptance of this truth, although the fruit of the Holy Spirit's grace, rests at the same time on a solid historical base. On the threshold of the third millennium, the new effort of evangelization can begin only from a renewed experience of this Mystery, accepted in faith and witnessed to in life....
( Pope John Paul II )
Prayer
God our Father, creator of all, today is the day of Easter joy.
This is the morning on which the Lord appeared ot men who had begun to lose their hope and opened their eyes to what the scriptures foretold:
that first he must die, and then he would rise and ascend into his Father's glorious presence.
May the risen Lord breathe on our minds and open our eyes that we may know him in the breaking of bread, and follow him in his risen life.
Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
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