EASTER SUNDAY

 little brother avi bala bitra                                                April 17, 2022

“Offering our life to our Beloved Risen Lord and sharing in His Holiness – trusting with Faith – that beyond the tomb is life, beyond the cross is glory and beyond the suffering is redemption!”

How deep is our faith in the Risen Lord?

This is the day when we celebrate the most central component of our Faith: The Resurrection of Christ!

St Paul, very appropriately declares: “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile, and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all men most to be pitied!” (1 Cor 15:17-19)

Three days back, at the table of the Last Supper, Jesus had preached His final discourse to His Beloved Apostles – the Sermon of Humility.

Day before yesterday, on Good Friday, from the Pulpit of the Cross, Jesus had preached His final discourse to the whole world – the Sermon of Absolute Love

He had bowed His head and died.

It seemed to be the end of everything…

The Romans, i.e. Gentiles, thought they had perfectly executed Jesus, their criminal. The Jews thought they had perfectly brought an end to Jesus, the blasphemer and the destroyer of their Law.

Jesus was laid in the tomb

… a large stone was rolled at its entrance.

And there, the Bible will also tell one of the greatest jokes with respect to Management… “So they went and made the sepulchre secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard!” (Mt 27:66)

Soldiers were placed at the tomb, to watch over a dead man!”

But Divinity went beyond all such human conspiracy.

Divine Wisdom overthrew all such human evil plans. And the empty tomb stands as the spectacular witness to this fact – that Jesus rose from the Dead!

He was Life… and death had no power over Him!

He was Holiness… and sin could have no control over Him!

Our life is so often similar to the tragedy that the Lord had undergone – the tragedy of death

Students sometimes toil hard in life but fail to get the desired results.

Husband and wife bring upon some misunderstanding in their intimacy, and there is a dangerous crack in the relationship

Like the big stone that was rolled across the tomb, where the body of Jesus was laid, a big stone is rolled over all our hopes and aspirations. Just as the women in the Gospel, we too ask: “Who will roll away the stone for us from the door of the tomb?” (Mk 16:3)

Human beings, from far, see the end of the road…and think that it’s all over But God, from above, says that it is not an end – it is only a bend to a new beginning!

Jesus was dead, but He rose.

And He invites us to trust and believe that…

Unless there is a Good Friday, there cannot be an Easter Sunday

Unless there is a crown of thorns, there cannot be the halo of holiness

Unless there are wounds of nails, there cannot blessings with raised hands!

Unless there is a Cross, there cannot be an empty tomb

We are invited, today, to take to heart this tremendously powerful message for Easter: Everything in life, happens for good!

Rom 8:28, “… everything God works for good, with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose!”

And the reason is simple… the logic is clear: Everything in life, happens for good because God is in perfect charge of the world.

The question is:

Am I willing to let the Lord take complete charge of me?

In my pains, my misunderstandings, my failures, my uncertainties, my hatred, my sins,

The Resurrected Jesus today invites, with His glorious body, with wounds in His Hands, His Legs and His Heart… to share in His Life and in His Holiness!

Are we willing to give our lives to this Beloved Risen Lord?

God weeps with us, so that one day we may smile with Him

God suffers with us, so that one day we may be comforted in Him

Let us remember, in the words of Fulton Sheen…

There can be only two philosophies to rule our lives:

That of the Cross, which starts with the fast and ends with the feast unto eternal life.

The other of Satan, which apparently starts with a feast and ends with fast… a fast unto eternal death.”

 

What is our Choice?

The Cross with the Resurrection… or Satan with Death?

A Holy life with Eternal Salvation… or a sinful life with Everlasting Damnation?

The Lord is waiting for an answer…

Happy Easter to all of you!

- @Avinash Bitra OFM Cap