Easter Sunday – Year A Christ Our Lord Is Risen Today: Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia!,Gos Jn 20: 1-9)
Dear brothers and sisters
Christ Our Lord is risen today! Alleluia! Alleluia!!
Dear friends, last year on this day we were very happy and joyful wishing each other, greeting our family and friends, hugs and high-fives, so on, and now we are in difficult situations where we can’t greet people around us….. but Jesus gives us hope to overcome our sorrow and anxiety as we look into today’s Gospel.
The disciples and Mary Maglene were very sad when they found out that the tomb was empty and Jesus was missing. This saddened them and their hearts became heavy, they were filled with full confusion, they did not know what to do? … but Jesus gave them hope and new life through His Resurrection.
The same way today Jesus assures each one of us by giving us hope to save us and come back to Him and to our normal life. So we need to pray unceasingly, not losing our faith in Him and trusting in His Plan.
Today, let us ask God to keep us faithful and pray for all who are confused with fear and anxiety by the COVID-19 pandemic, that they will have hope through our Risen Lord who brings joy and peace by God’s loving and liberating Spirit.
A couple of weeks ago, we started our Lenten journey which seemed like a hopeless, unending and a sorrowful journey. Today, we have come to the end of that journey. A journey that began sorrowfully has ended in joy with the resurrection of our Lord.
The simple and short story is that, Christ has completely overcome the power of death. He has fulfilled his promise: “I will rise on the third day.”
By His resurrection this Easter, Jesus makes a very important statement. That is, He is both the Lord of the living and of the dead. We died with him through our Lenten observances. So, let us also rise with him through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Therefore, as His disciples, our testimony from today shall be: “We saw Christ’s glory as He rose! Christ is truly risen from the dead.” Like the apostles, our duty now is to spread this good news.
Let us be happy and rejoice for what God has done for us today in Christ.
Let also include our prayers and family and pray for all of us. And I wish you a Happy Easter.
Fr John Paul Pasala
Paris Priest
