Just a word before we go...Second Sunday of Easter...April 16, 2023
Just a week ago we celebrated the Great Vigil of Easter, and all who participated would surely remember the Exsultet sung by Dan Schutte and Kathy Flynn, to which we sang in response multiple times, while raising our lighted candles: “Most holy night, most blessed of nights, when Christ broke the chains of the darkness…” In our gospel today, Christ broke the chains of the darkness that enfolded the disciples. Following Jesus’ rising from his tomb, they had entombed themselves in a closed and locked room. When Christ appeared in their midst, wishing them peace and conferring the Holy Spirit upon them, he freed them from their fear, their doubt, their confusion. He did not reprimand them for having abandoned him, but instead offered mercy, responding to their need for reassurance and a restoration of trust.
And, as he had commissioned Mary of Magdala to proclaim the Good News of his Resurrection to the disciples, Jesus the Christ now instructed those gathered in that room to continue his mission.
Having experienced the triumph of Christ’s victory over death through our Easter observances, we are being called out of whatever tomb we might be encased in, be it of fear, or self-absorption, or a failure to recognize our responsibilities to one another; we are being called to continue the mission of Christ in our world. Pope Francis tells us to abandon the fear of mistakes and to fear instead, “remaining shut up in structures...rules...or habits, while at our door people are starving.”
On Easter Sunday a friend from college died, and as I watched her funeral on Friday, I was reminded of the refrain to the Exsultet, the remaining two lines of which are: “God’s mighty love is stronger than death, Christ our Light shines forever.” Claire, who fought mightily for two years, has been freed from her darkness and welcomed into Christ’s eternal light. For her, the
the words of the refrain have come alive. May she rest in peace.
And may we all take comfort in God’s love and mercy