Easter Sunday

Scripture readings: Acts 10:34, 37-43; Psalm 118; Colossians 3:1-4 or 1 Corinthians 5:6-8; John 20:1-9

As a child I got to wear my best clothes on Easter Sunday. Sometimes that even meant new clothes, which was a wonderful, even if perhaps unintentional, proclamation of the new life bestowed on the world today by our all-loving God.

As I grew older, I came to understand how Jesus is the heart and soul of this day and that I need to allow this Risen Lord to live within me. I began to realize that sin, Satan, suffering, and death could neither overcome nor destroy me, for Christ is stronger than any of them.

Through Easter I had been given the gifts of the forgiveness, the love, and the power of God.

I once met a very tough prisoner who told me: “Father, I was a wretched and terrible man. I did rotten things in my life, which is why I am here and will be here for a long time.

“But I’ve had a personal encounter with Jesus, the Risen Lord, and my whole life has changed. I know that I have been forgiven by God. I have repented. I hope for the forgiveness of the families whom I have hurt, including my own, because now He lives within me.”

That is Easter!

Rev. Kevin Moley, C.Ss.R.
Provincial Superior
Brooklyn, N.Y.