EASTER: CELEBRATING NEW LIFE Fr. Gerald Musa REVIVING BODY AND SOUL Catechist John serves at Holy Family Cathedral, Sokoto. He lost his son Chris, one of his two lovely children just a few weeks ago. I imagine the pain and trauma that he and his wife are going through at the moment. John travelled home village, buried his child and returned back to his duty post. I was amazed at how active he was last Tuesday serving the Church community during the Chrism Mass at Holy Family Cathedral, Sokoto. Apparently, John is not allowing the darkness of grief to cage him for so long. Even though his heart is heavy with grief, he is undergoing the process of healing and recovery from shock. Easter is a celebration of the rising of Jesus from the dead. The celebration of Easter is also a time to think of Jesus’ words of assurance to his followers when he said whoever lives and believes in him will have a share in eternal. More so, Resurrection also means rising from the grave of grief; rising from the chains of failure; rising from the weakness and sickness which disfigure the human body and spirit and it is also rising from all forms of physical, emotional and spiritual maladies that prevent the human person from performing his or her optimum best. Thus, another name for resurrection is revitalization. A CELEBRATION OF VICTORY Peter the Apostle recounted what happened to Jesus when he stated: They put him to death by hanging him on a tree and on the third day he rose again from the dead (Acts of the Apostles 10:34, 37-43). In the light of this statement we can look at Easter from the angle of celebration of victory over death, darkness, and dungeon that destroy the human body and spirit. Easter is a time to celebrate every human person who has refused to let his spirit go down in the midst of the turbulence of life. My friends William and Lucy lost their shop in the floods that ravaged Brisbane in 2011 and they had a bold sign in front of their shop which says: “Our shop is down but our spirits are not down.” In the first few days after the flood, William and Lucy were sad and disheartened but they just refused to allow the unpleasant disaster to weigh their spirits down or to linger forever. The message of Easter challenges every drooping spirit toward the necessity of revival. You cannot keep the spirit of a good person down, says an adage. A NEW DAWN After the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the Sepulchre and behold they met an empty tomb and a risen Jesus who instructed them to say to tell his disciples to go to Galilee and there they will see him (cf. Matthew 28:1-10). The angel put a question to Mary and others who came to Jesus: Why do you seek the living among the dead?” (Luke 24:5). For Mary who went to the tomb, this was to be a dawn like no other as she came into contact with the risen one and witnessed how darkness of turned into immortality. Mary and the disciples who went to the tomb witnessed the dawn of a new beginning. This dawn signifies dayspring of a beginning in the world. Romanian Philosopher and Essayist Sorin Cerin says “The dawn of beauty always comes after night.” These words could mean that the dawn of the beauty of resurrection comes after the night of death. REGENERATION Some countries around the world share and eat eggs during Easter celebration because eggs are symbols of rebirth and regeneration. Human hearts and minds constantly need regeneration and this is why the Lord invited Israel for regeneration: I shall pour clean water over you and you will be cleansed. I will cleanse you of all your defilement and all your idols. I shall give you a new heart, and put a new spirit in you; I shall remove the heart of stone from your bodies and give you a heart of flesh instead (cf. Ezekiel 36:16-28). Apostle Paul added his voice in the call for regeneration of the mind and spirit when he called on the people of Ephesus to put away their former negative ways of life and be renewed in the spirit of their minds (Ephesians 4:22). The Easter message practically proclaims the words of the preface of the Mass for the dead which says, “In death life is changed, not ended.”
Posted on: Sat, 19 Apr 2014 14:32:04 +0000