Christ our hope has risen.

CHRIST OUR HOPE HAS RISEN

I love the way the Church unfolds the drama of Holy Week, the greatest week in the life of our Lord.  Mary Magdalene, unknown to her, was anointing the feet of Jesus for His burial. Then follows the betrayal of Judas and the denial of Peter.  On Holy Thursday we witness the Last Supper when Jesus washed the feet of His disciples, instituted the Holy Eucharist and ordained His first priests, and finally on Good Friday His Crucifixion and Death.  On Holy Saturday the whole Church is in mourning and quietly awaits His Resurrection.  The Church is bare, altars are stripped, the tabernacle is open and empty and before it is the crucifix telling all that Jesus is dead.  Even the water fonts are dry.  Because Christ is dead even the Sacraments of Reconciliation and of the Sick are not administered unless it is absolutely necessary.  Then slowly the Church comes to life.  Altars are covered, flowers decorate the church, the Paschal Candle takes centre stage.  At sunset or at midnight the Easter Vigil with the lighting of the fire and Paschal Candle and the deacon proclaims, “Christ the Light!”

There is one thing I can’t stress enough at this point.  Why is it taking years for people to appreciate that this ceremony is the most important one in the year and is so poorly attended in so many of our Churches?  How I, and all priests, would love to see people making the effort to come and our churches being full to capacity.

It is however good to note that more people go to Mass on Easter Sunday than on any other day of the year.  Some only go to church on Easter Sunday.  It reminds me of a Vicar who would say this at his Easter address.  “I know I won’t be seeing the majority of you until next Easter so I shall take this opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas!”

It is sad that today there are many people who do not believe in the Resurrection of Christ.  St. Paul says it all when he writes, “If Christ is not risen then our faith is in vain.”  Christ foretold that He would rise on the third day.  “I shall destroy this temple and on the third day I shall raise it up.”  Of course the temple that He was referring to was His Body.  If He had not risen He would be a fake and we would be fools to follow Him.  His rising was proof that He was God.  He already proved He had power over death by raising from the dead Jairus’ daughter, the widow's only son at Naim and Lazarus.  Before Lazarus was raised He told Martha.  “I am the Resurrection.”  Having raised these three people from the dead, why should we doubt that He could do the same for Himself.  The Resurrection was the Father’s stamp of approval of all His Son had done.

We all agree that the greatest mystery of our faith is the Blessed Trinity, Three Persons in one God.  We also agree that high on the list of our beliefs is the fact of the Resurrection of Christ.  Every Sunday together we recite, “On the third day He rose again” and we go on to say, “We look for the resurrection of the dead.”  We can all recite those words because we celebrate the Resurrection of Christ today.

Whenever I look at the crucifix I prefer to see the crucified Christ which reminds me of His love for us and how dreadfully we treated Him.  But when I see in modern crucifixes the Risen Christ it says to us that Christ who died for us, conquered death and proved to us that He is God, our High Priest.

People we love die, but we know that it is not the end of them.  I feel really sorry for those who say when our loved ones die it is the end.  We won’t see them again.  I just can’t imagine my parents just being a memory to me and nothing more.  I am convinced that we are all immortal and that we will rise again and we shall meet again.  When, please God, we get to Heaven, after the ecstatic joy of meeting the Blessed Trinity, Our Lady, the saints and the angels, it is my firm belief that we shall meet our parents.  I, like you, can’t wait for the loving squeeze I am going to give my Mum and Dad.  We can talk like this because today we believe Jesus rose from the dead.

Today we can conclude by saying, “Thank you Heavenly Father for giving us Your Son and raising Him from the dead.  Thank you Jesus for the example of Your life, for becoming Man, leaving yourself with us in the Holy Eucharist and for dying for us on the Cross.”

Lord Jesus, may we never think lightly of our sins which crucified You and may we never  forget what You did for us.

We also want to thank Mary, our blessed Mother, for the part she so generously played in our redemption.  To see her Son suffer to the extent He did must have cost her dearly.  It was that suffering that earned her the title, “Queen of Martyrs.”

I wish you all the joys, peace and blessing of our Risen Lord.

FATHER FRANCIS MAPLE