By Sister Catherine Cleary, OSB

This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice in it and be glad.(Psalm 118:12)

lst Reading Acts of the Apostles 10:34a, 37-43;  Col 3:1-4; John 20:1-9.

As I walked over to my office last week, I saw yellow crocuses and spiked green leaves heralding irises and tulips not yet in bloom. Patches of snow linger on the north slopes, but the ground seems to be unable to keep new life hidden any longer. What wonderful signs and reminders of the Lord’s resurrection: the earth, for so long encased only in snow and ice, now erupting with new life. It is as if the earth itself is resurrecting!

And what about us? Have our Lenten resolutions, filled with anticipation and largesse Ash Wednesday, softened our hearts to the point where our love breaks out into greater generosity? Have our Lenten penances helped us release our hold on our excessive need for control and power, esteem and affection, and security and survival?

This is what our baptism and our celebration of  Easter Sunday is all about. We  are reminded of being baptized into the body of Christ. We are a new person!

Our own new selves – closer to our true selves – can continue on our paths, less self-focused, more concerned for our neighbor, more willing to let go of “what’s in it for me.”

We know how to die – to our need for control, our desire for self aggrandizement – only too well. Through our prayer life and our spirituality, we are called to keep “resurrecting.”

To quote Beatrice Bruteau, (The Easter Mysteries): “What we have to practice is our seeking, letting go, finding, seeing, withdrawing from the world and returning into the world.”

We need to develop faith in our New Person, in our baptism, in our being rooted in God in our ability to offer love and meaning to our world; to become new. (Rom 6:4; Rev 21:5).

REFLECTIONS:

How can you keep your Resurrection experience nourished and alive?

How can you enable it to grow?

Choose one person or one task in your daily life where you can create a new reaction or a new, hope-filled response.  Be resurrected … help create resurrection in others!