04/04/2026
EASTER DAY
We adopted for forty days together with serious Prayer, Fasting, and doing acts of Charity. We reflected on God's saving action through the passion and death of His only begotten Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ.
We gathered in vigil anticipating and celebrating the resurrection of the Lord; our lingering hope. We heard in the readings how God loved us. He was our light that shattered the darkness that was sin. He was the living water which gives us new life. Praise and thanksgiving to God! ALLELUIA! How sweet is the word! How sweet is the Lord risen!
The resurrection is undoubtedly not just a historical event. Nothing has surpassed it in world history. We can name all the great leaders, secular and religious, who ever lived. Nobody, except the Lord Jesus, died and came back to life. Only us Christians, by virtue of our Faith, profess it.
The Gospel reading from Luke says otherwise. Upon reaching the tomb of Jesus, some women who came with some spices to anoint the dead body of Jesus, found the stone rolled away and body was missing. Did they immediately believed Jesus rose from the dead? No. They were "puzzled" with what they saw. They were not excited, jumping for joy, and chanting hallelujahs as others would accuse them of. When two men in dazzling clothes appeared before them and talked to them, they were scared. They did not mistake one of them as Jesus. They only got a hint of Jesus risen when they were told, "Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but He has been raised.
What the women saw was later relayed to the apostles. How did the apostles react? Again, contrary to what unbelievers think, they were not immediately joyful. They must have expressed their puzzlement too! They knew Jesus died. The news of Him alive should be a Good News, but still too good to be believed. But the truth of the resurrection was meant to be revealed. Jesus made sure of that. He gave the apostles the perfect signs of His presence. His voice which they had heard throughout His ministry cannot be denied. Mary recognized Him when He called her by her name. The voice of the Master is music to the ears of His disciples. He showed them the wounds on His body. Thomas doubted that Jesus risen visited the apostles when he was not present. He made a claim that he would not believe until he saw and touched Jesus' wounds. Jesus obliged by visiting them again. This time Thomas was there to touch and see for himself Jesus' wounds! He believed because he saw.
Finally, Jesus asked for food and ate them before their eyes. That was a clincher. He was the Lord not only because He saw Him eating but because Jesus was fond of eating. Most of His significant moments happened during a meal. No wonder, He fulfilled His promise to us to be with us always by instituting the mass where the bread and wine become His Body and Blood!
The resurrection is a matter of Faith. Nobody saw Jesus rising from the dead. The disciples believed because of their encounter with the risen Lord. Their sudden display of courage, boldness, and faith after meeting the risen Lord even at the expense of their lives gives witness to its truth. Hiding in the cenacle after Jesus died, they came out and professed the faith and announced the Good News of Jesus' rising from the dead. Jesus became the Light of our lives. As St. John Paul II said, "We are an Easter people and Alleluia is our song!" And his apostle namesake, St. Paul, even said it better, "But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, your faith is also in vain." (1Cor 15:13-14)
Let the unbelievers laugh at us for believing in the resurrection. What we should not allow is treat it lightly. Our daily recitation of the Creed might have lessened for us the excitement, joy, and wonder it should bring. Our yearly remembering of Jesus' passion, death, and resurrection through our rich and meaningful liturgies should help us recover and experience what the original disciples experienced when they first realized and believed the truth of the resurrection. It is the reason for belonging to this Faith. It is the reason why we have hope. It is the reason for living.
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