Alleluia! He is risen! Pope St. John Paul II said, “Do not abandon yourself to despair. We are Easter people and Alleluia is our song.” We are Easter people; hope is our Christian identity. We are not people of fear. We are courageous, hopeful, beloved sons and daughters of God. Our very identity is tied to the Resurrection. We are called to believe that Christ is truly risen, to feel it deep in our bones, and then live out of that deep knowledge. We know that our Redeemer lives (Job 19:25). Our hope is that Jesus Christ will bring us to everlasting life.
(John 20:1)
We Easter people are not naive. We know that there is darkness we must battle: “For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens” (Eph 6:12). We are not blind. We see sinfulness, poverty, injustice, cruelty, pain, sickness, and death. What makes us Easter people different is that we can see all this and still live joyfully because we know that Christ has conquered it all. “For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death, for ‘he subjected everything under his feet’” (1 Cor 15:25-27). We stand firm in our faith that Christ has won the victory for us. Jesus told John, “Do not be afraid. I am…the one who lives. Once I was dead, but now I am alive forever and ever” (Rev 1:17-18). May we hear those words of comfort from our King, the One who lived and died for us. The One who promised to be with us “always, until the end of the age” (Matt 28:20). May we be Easter people who proclaim without fear, without doubt, firmly rooted in the truth of Christ: “Truly, He is risen!”
Lord Jesus, how glad I am to sing “Alleluia” and to be one of Your beloved Easter people!
Readings for Easter Sunday
ACTS 10:34-43
PSALM 118:1-23
1 CORINTHIANS 5:6-8
JOHN 20:1-9