Noel Coypel - The Resurrection
Easter Sunday readings: http://www.usccb.org/nab/042411.shtml
Have you ever had an experience so wonderful or awe inspiring that no matter how eloquent, words could not describe what you saw or felt? For most of us that would be a rare event. Maybe a once in a lifetime occurrence. I know that over the years I’ve heard stories from folks about an experience in prayer that maybe they would not want to share with many because if they did, they might be labeled as naive or crazy or maybe delusional. Some people relate they have seen angels or saw Jesus. But, "who would really believe me if I claimed such a thing?" Even then, it would be difficult to find the right words to describe it.
But, how do you describe the colors of a sunset to capture the emotion you may feel in watching it? Saying the sky was red, blue, orange would describe the colors or to say that it was beautiful would be adequate but many things are colorful and beautiful. Words sometimes just fall short. You would need to explain much more in order to share the experience with someone.
Or, I suppose one could describe Crater Lake here in southern Oregon as just an enormous hole in the ground which is not a very memorable description. Or, we can refer to it as majestic, awe inspiring, azure blue in color and one of the natural wonders of the world. One description is flat, mundane and certainly not something that would draw you to southern Oregon to view an enormous hole in the ground! But I would be interested in seeing and hearing more about a natural wonder of the world. It’s all in how you describe it to express its fullest meaning.
The same might be said of our Faith. This weekend we have come to the end of our annual six week journey towards Easter in which we mark the Resurrection of the Lord. We can see it merely as an article of our faith; a strange story from the Scriptures that has been challenged more than once by skeptics as possibly myth or imagination.
Or we could recognize it as the core belief of our lives as a Christian people – as that event which presents to us a daily choice of WHO and WHAT to believe in and how we accordingly direct our lives toward our ultimate salvation in Christ.
The Resurrection stories of Mary Magdalene, Peter, John, and for all who were privileged to see, touch, eat with, and witness to the risen Christ attempt to describe their experience in a mix of deep emotions we hear in our Gospel readings: “fearful yet overjoyed, amazed, believing.” If you read them carefully, you can hear both their enthusiasm and their frustration at describing what happened to them – at the tomb, in the upper room, along the road to Emmaus, or by the Sea of Galilee as they encountered the risen Lord. Something happened that radically changed their lives but words alone were not sufficient to describe the experience. Yet, some in their time labeled them as crazy or delusional – some among the Apostles themselves who wanted more proof than just an empty tomb.
While the empty tomb alone is not proof of the resurrection the events related in the Gospels are written to prove to us that Jesus indeed did rise in his body from the dead. What that event implies for us is that death is not the end of the road. That God has overcome any reason for us to fear but that now we can experience the living Christ in and through his Church – in his Word in his Sacrament in the Faith we share. New life in Baptism, Bread of Life in the Eucharist, and the Chrism of the Holy Spirit all are signs of the resurrection in our midst. Christ is alive and risen among us!
St. Augustine put it well when he said, “He disappeared from before our eyes, that we might find him in our hearts.” Our task is to carry out our mission and do what the Church always does. I think we have a duty to describe this event by living this event in witness to our faith. WORDS ALONE WILL NEVER BE ADEQUATE.
To witness to the truth in our own ways as Peter did in our first reading for Easter Sunday morning: “He commissioned us to . . . testify that he is the one appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead.” The very mission of this Church which Christ himself established is to be a voice for his truth in the world. As members of the Church we are most often the voice that others hear.
Popes and Bishops as leaders of the Church are often judged very well or very harshly. Sometimes we priests hear the same about us. It often goes with the position of anyone in a leadership. And for that reason, the leadership of our Church has a special responsibility to be authentic.
But, I think in the end, people come to form an opinion about Christians and in particular about those of us in the Catholic Church based upon their personal experience of someone they know and most often they pass judgment based upon our behavior or the level of our enthusiasm about the Faith. People choose to join the Church or to leave it, or at least slack off in their regular attendance, often times based upon how they were treated, welcomed or judged by someone as a member the Church: both people and Priests included.
We Catholics are deeply fortunate. We have a rich, ancient, beautiful, powerful faith with a very long history and a treasure chest filled with a variety of spirituality's, great heroes among our Saints, powerful Sacraments in which the ministry of Christ continues in the world. We have a story, a history, and a message to bring to the world around us. Telling a story is one thing and living our faith is another. It seems to me there is a clear connection between what we say we believe in and what we do with the quality of our lives.
While that may seem obvious in ordinary things, it becomes far more challenging with our Faith. When we feel we need to take a stand for what we believe in is when we hear the resurrection call: "Do not be afraid . . . I am with you always."
Jesus often said to those who saw him after the Resurrection: “Do not be afraid.” Angels at the tomb told the women “Do not be afraid.” Jesus said to his Apostles, “Do not be afraid.” I think there is a message in that for everyone of us, “Do not be afraid” to be a follower of Christ and do not be afraid to be a Catholic-Christian.
The words of what is called our “Easter Sequence” make the point we all need to hear about our mission:
“Christians to the Paschal Victim offer your thankful praises!
A Lamb the sheep redeems; Christ who only is sinless,
Reconciles sinners to the Father.
Death and life have contended in that combat stupendous:
The Prince of Life who died, reigns immortal.
Speak Mary, declaring what you saw, way faring,
The tomb of Christ, who is living, the glory of Jesus resurrection;
Bright angels, attesting, the shroud and napkin resting.
Yes, Christ my hope is arisen; to Galilee he goes before you.
Christ indeed from death is risen, our new life obtaining,
Have mercy victor King, ever reigning!”
Alleluia!
Fr. Tim
Hesychius of Jerusalem, a fifth-century priest, monk, and theologian revered in the Eastern churches.