Christ, Our Hope, is Risen! Alleluia!

A grace-filled Happy Easter to one and all!

The joy of the Resurrection fi lls our hearts and urges us to share it with all our brothers and sisters.

Something wonderful has happened not only to Jesus but also to us: we have risen to a new life.

Prepared by the Lenten season, we have left behind our moral miseries and weaknesses, and have come to share in the new life that Jesus offers to all those who make him Lord of their hearts.

Echoing today’s Sequence, we gather to offer thankful praises to the Paschal Victim who is the Prince of Life and who reigns immortal over sin and death. He is the reason for our joy. He is the source of our peace and our determination to become better Christians. Onwards now, towards newness and fullness of life!

1st Reading Acts 10:34.37-43

Jesus’ resurrection is the essence of the “Good News” brought by Peter to Cornelius. On this truth depends our salvation and all that we believe about God’s Incarnate Son.

Responsorial Psalm Ps 118

R –This is the day the Lord has

made; let us rejoice and be glad!

2nd Reading Col 3:1-4

Today St. Paul reminds us that the resurrection of Christ should be reflected in our behavior.

Gospel Jn 20:1-9

Coming to accept the reality of the Resurrection was a long process, as we learn from today’s account of the discovery of the empty tomb. The absence of Jesus’ body and the position of the wrappings in the tomb were the first signs that led John and Peter to believe.

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SEVEN PLUS ONE: WRAPPING MY HEAD AROUND

A GLORIOUS MYSTERY

Kalakbay at Katoto

Easter is a season. It’s seven weeks plus one day! We usher in this season with a bang . . . with joyful exaltation, with the glorious

proclamation of the Exultet and followed up by lusty acclamations of PRAISE . . . Alleluia!

Praise be to the Lord . . . not once, not twice, but repeatedly.

God deserves it. He is glorious. Even if, in and through His Son Jesus Christ, God suffered, God bit dust, God died. But in and through the Risen Christ, God reigns glorious, yesterday, today, and forever.

Seven, as we all know, is a number that speaks about the mighty and glorious God. It is Biblical. It is theological. And it speaks about the infinite fruits of the passion, death and resurrection of Christ the Son of God.

The forty days of Lent sure was long. Whatever is great, whatever is noble, whatever is glorious and whatever refers to Almighty God takes long for us to even start understanding. A mystery of a love so great, a work of salvation so encompassing takes time to sink in.

And after 40 days, we still could not wrap our heads around it. We are stunned. We are taken aback.

The past seven days took us in some kind of a rollercoaster spiritual, mystical and theological

ride! We cried out “Hosanna!”

We joined the crowds, too, in hollering “Crucify him” every time we sinned. We were stone-silent as He suffered and died on the Cross. We were tight-lipped in mourning the day after Christ died.

But tonight, we are once more roused into believing, into hoping and into rejoicing.

The Lord is Risen! As He had promised!

And we start tonight this glorious journey of seven weeks and a day – a full season to reflect on three glorious mysteries: 1) the Resurrection of the Lord, 2) the Ascension of the Lord into heaven, and 3) the Descent of the Holy Spirit to the apostles and the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Can you wrap your heads around this glorious mystery times three? I cannot. I dare not even claim I do. But all I know is what I am sure

of: CHRIST HAS DIED. CHRIST IS RISEN. CHRIST WILL COME AGAIN!

I am nothing if I do not accept the reality that I, too, am on a journey. I am a pilgrim of Hope.

And the Lord’s resurrection made that possible for me and you!

(May I acknowledge and recommend this article and publication which I accidentally encountered online: Sambuhay Missallete ). Mabuhay po kayo.

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Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam.

Marcelino M. Malana