Easter Sunday is the greatest of all feast days in the Church! It is from this day that all other Sunday celebrations takes their origin becoming “mini Easter Sundays”. This celebration is marked most especially by the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. It is this crucial event that changes everything. Without the Resurrection, Jesus is just a man with some interesting teachings. With the Resurrection, He is Lord and God. As Saint Paul says, “without the Resurrection we are the most pitiable of all people”. The Resurrection of Jesus breathed life into the Christian Church and still breaths it into each of us today!

With the Resurrection comes incomparable joy no matter what your life circumstance. The fact of the Resurrection, and the promise of eternal life to all who believe in Jesus, is what empowered the saints to endure all forms of suffering and even death. Saint Paul considered all of his sufferings as “nothing” and that even “death lost its sting” when compared to the suffering of Jesus! Saint Therese of Lisieux said that Jesus is the soul who suffered the most in life. He is the person in of all history, past, present and future, who has suffered more than any other. Upon entering into the eternal Resurrection with Jesus, we too will feel as if all our suffering amounts to nothing more than an inconvenient night at a bad hotel! You see, Jesus is risen! He is truly risen! This means we have all won the jackpot of all jackpots! Because of the Resurrection we have become infinitely wealthy with God’s love and the promise of Resurrection for ourselves! It is easy to be joyful on Easter day, however, this joy is something Christians should live in every day!

In the early years of the Church there was the proclamation “Jesus is risen!” to which all would exclaim “He is truly risen!” A legend that says that Mary Magdalene, because of her great beauty, was invited to a dinner with Caesar. She took the opportunity to proclaim the Lord’s Resurrection saying directly to Caesar “Jesus is risen!” Upon his expressed confusion, she went on: “Your man put Him to death by crucifixion... but, not to worry He has truly risen from the dead!” Caesar responded to her while taking an egg off a nearby plate saying “A man cannot come back from the dead any more than this egg can turn red in my hand.” At that very moment, it is said the egg miraculously turned blood red in his hand. This is the story that gave rise to a famous Icon of Mary holding the red egg in her hand, and to the tradition of coloring Easter eggs.

Brothers and sisters, we must always remember that no matter what has happened, no matter what is happening right now, and no matter what will come in the future; Jesus Christ is risen and we need not fear. God can transform death into life and take us from all our sufferings into eternal joy. That is the happiness we seek and the hope that comes from the promise of Easter!

In Christ May All Things Be Glorified!

Fr. Steve

BACK TO LIST