Easter Sunday

​“The Lord is risen, alleluia!” The Invitatory Antiphon for Easter Sunday proclaims the exultant joy of the whole Church, the triumphant Bride of Christ, as she rejoices in the victory of her Redeemer. On this first day of the week, Jesus rose from the tomb, defeating not merely physical death, but its much more sinister source: the prideful rejection of God’s love which is the temptation of every fallen human heart. Ever since the Fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, each soul has been subject to fear, bound by a warped understanding of God’s power and inclined to reject His providence in favor of her own plans. Yet now, “the splendor of Christ risen from the dead” (as stated in the First Antiphon for Morning Prayer) illuminates the very darkness in which the soul has shrouded herself and she, redeemed by his blood, may freely rise to greet Him.

​In rising from the grave, Jesus Christ has liberated the human person. This is beautifully illustrated in the Office of Readings for Holy Saturday. The ancient author describes the descent of the Lord into hell and His encounter with one of the just souls awaiting Him. “Awake, O sleeper,” Jesus commands, “and rise from the dead…I did not create you to be a prisoner in hell”. Instead, the Lord insists, this soul was fashioned in His own image and now, through His victory on the Cross, He has joined Himself inseparably to His beloved. Whatever darkness of sin and death once separated them, Christ now frees her from bondage and invites her into the light. Compelled by His confident joy, the soul arises to enter into the marriage banquet prepared by her Savior.

​Having triumphed over death, Jesus has become the healer of every human heart. Perhaps no Gospel account of the Resurrection portrays this more vividly than John’s description of Jesus’ encounter with Mary Magdalene, who came early to the tomb on Easter Sunday only to find His body gone. Ever since He had delivered her from the possession of seven demons, Mary Magdalene had committed her whole being to Christ, trustingly allowing Him to reshape her wounded heart. Following His death and burial, however, her hope was shattered. Weeping before the empty tomb that Easter morning, her heart was pierced with grief and all her wounds reopened. Even when Jesus appeared and asked the reason for her tears, she was too distraught to recognize Him. It was only when He called her name that she knew her Beloved. At that moment, seeing the radiant splendor of His Face, she must have heard in her heart an echo of the Lord’s words to the soul in hell on Holy Saturday: “See on My Face the spittle I received in order to restore to you the life I once breathed into you. See there the marks of the blows I received in order to refashion your warped nature in my image...My side has healed the pain in yours.” Restored by His loving mercy, Mary Magdalene ran in joyful haste to tell His disciples, “I have seen the Lord!” (John 20:18). May her joy be ours as well, as we allow Christ to heal our hearts, darkened by sin, and to embolden us to share His triumph with all whom we encounter!