Easter Sunday, Year A
Happy Easter to you all! Today’s Responsorial Psalm, Psalm 118 clearly reveals to us the sentiments of today’s Solemnity, as it says, “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad.” Saint Peter in our first reading from the Acts of the Apostles Chapter 10, verses 34 to 43 tells us of what Jesus has done for Him and the other disciples and reminds us that we as children of God and disciples of Christ have been “commissioned us to preach to the people and testify that Jesus is the one appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead. To Him all the prophets bear witness, that everyone who believes in Him will receive forgiveness of sins through His name.” To this Saint Paul in his Letter to the Colossians Chapter 3, verses 1 to 4, our second reading today adds, “If then you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Think of what is above, not of what is on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ your life appears, then you too will appear with him in glory.” Amen!
So my dear friends, what exactly are you as an individual celebrating today? We are not only celebrating the resurrection of Jesus that brought about our salvation, but we are celebrating our whole life and being! We are celebrating God’s love for us in making us in His own image and likeness. We are celebrating His gift of His Son our Lord Jesus Christ to suffer and die for our sins. We are celebrating our redemption from our life of sin to newness of life in God. We are celebrating the gift of the Catholic Church to lead and bring us closer to God as promised by Christ. We are celebrating our baptism in which we are made God’s children and co-heirs of His kingdom. We are celebrating the gift of Jesus’s Body and Blood in the Eucharist which He established on Holy Thursday to nourish and strengthen us in our battle with the devil and with sin. We are celebrating the gift of the Holy Spirit to illumine and enlighten us with its gifts to become true soldiers of Christ. We are celebrating the gift of spiritual healing and forgiveness we receive in the sacrament of confession. We are celebrating the gift of physical healing we are given through the sacrament of anointing of the sick. We are celebrating the gift of the sacrament of matrimony that helps us serve God by bringing our spouses and our children closer to God in our service to Him and the Church. We are celebrating our being as children of God and disciples of Christ. We are celebrating all God’s blessings, mercies and graces upon us.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, all these and many more, are what we are celebrating today with the Solemnity of Easter, the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Like we were reminded yesterday at the Easter Vigil Mass of Holy Saturday before we processed into the church with our lighted candles, “may the light of Christ rising in glory dispel the darkness of our hearts and minds,” and lead us to go into the world to proclaim all these great and wonderful things God has done and continues to do in our lives, then testify to Him by being the light of Christ to others and bringing them closer to God.
