Happy Easter to everyone!
Our lord Jesus Christ is risen from the dead, let us rejoice and be glad! I would like to share with you three points from my reflection on this gospel of Easter Sunday. The first is “bravery “: As we see in the gospel, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark. In spite of sorrow, fear and desperation that all the disciples of Jesus were feeling after his death, Mary of Magdala had the courage to go to the tomb of Jesus early in the morning. She loved Jesus and wanted to remain close to him. Through her bravery over fear, she was the first one who found out that the tomb was empty. Then, she told Peter and the other disciple whom Jesus loved. As Christians, we need to have this virtue of Bravery like Mary. Despite our imperfection and our sinful condition, we need to be brave enough and take the courage to go to God, to return to him and get closer to him especially when we commit sin so that the grace of God may help us and take away our imperfection.
The second is “Hope”: this is another character of Peter and the other disciple whom Jesus loved. When they were told that the tomb of Jesus was empty, they both ran in order to see the tomb, even though they were afraid of the Jews. I would like to emphasis the action of Peter and the other disciple whom Jesus loved: They ran. Why did they run? We say that running is faster than walking, and it is true. However, when Peter and the other disciple run, there is something behind their action which makes them run instead of walking. It is because they had hope in Jesus, and they did not give up. According to Gabriel Marcel, a French philosopher, “when we hope, our hope is rooted in faith, not in our reason, and hope still exists even when all rational grounds are gone”. As Christians, we are called to be hopeful people especially to keep hope in God in spite of many problems and difficulties in our lives. Our reason cannot comprehend everything. That is why we need to have faith in God and let him journey with us. Through hope we are able to love and have faith like Peter and the other disciple who showed hope, love and faith in the Jesus.
The last is “Faith”: this is another character of the disciples we see in the gospel. The disciple who arrived at the tomb first went inside the tomb, saw and believed. Peter also went in and believed. Before, they had not yet understood the Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.” The disciples believed even though they did not understand well Christ’s resurrection. As Christians, we are called to believe, to have faith in God and love him above all. Faith is the foundation of our belief. Without faith, our reason may lose its essence and direction. Once, St. Anselm of Canterbury a philosopher and theologian, said “Faith seeking understanding”, which means that we need to have faith first in order to understand God, our humanity and the whole creation. In this perspective, reason is also important to understand our belief, though we find some limitations of our reason in our belief. It is sad when some people leave the Church just because they put their reason over their faith. For Saint J Paul II expressed, faith and reason are important. “Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth”
As we ponder on this gospel of Easter Sunday, may the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ be a new beginning for us to change our lives for the better. At the same time, let the resurrection of Jesus be a hope for each one of us and ignite the fire of faith in our hearts so that we may continue our journey with joy in spite of challenging circumstances we may experience. We hope in the resurrection to come, when we will see God face to face and so enjoy eternal happiness. Have a Blessed Easter Sunday.
