He is risen. He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Rev. Fr. Leon Juchniewicz, a student of our Patron Saint, St. John Paul II, drilled this greeting into us when he was Pastor of our Good Shepherd Catholic Church here in Elk Grove, California. The origin of this traditional Easter greeting appears in Luke 24:34 “The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon”. It is the cry of our hearts, the truth of all that Jesus did for us. It is a truth in which we find comfort, even in the most trying of times.
Holy Week and the Triduum are so much a part of the rhythm of our lives that it is easy for them to solidify into an unvarying pattern as the years go by. There is nothing intrinsically bad about habit – it is one of the ways that we, as beings embedded in time, can experience something like the timelessness of eternity. All the same, habit does have a certain anesthetic quality as well. We end up doing habitual things not for a reason, not because of what they really are, but simply because we have always done them.
In past years I always narrated the Passion on Palm Sunday and Good Friday because that is what I always did. I always came to the Easter Vigil Mass extra early so I could have my favorite pew because that is what I always did. As a child, I never wanted to go to the Easter Vigil service because it was “too long” and I really did not understand what the liturgy was all about. Now that I am older, wiser, more experienced, and I understand the liturgy better, I miss that long service, with all the people wanting to be initiated into the Church that you and I love, that they love. In fact, I have always wished that the service included all nine of the Scripture readings available, along with their Responsorial Psalms and Canticles, rather than the three or four that now seem to have become the norm, readings abbreviated in interest of shortening the service. But those nine readings collectively tell OUR story, not just the story of some long-dead Israelites. And I like hearing about my salvation history. It saddens me that we have settled into a pattern of only listening to a “Reader’s Digest” version of that history.
So the kind of shake-up we that we have been having this past few years, painful though it has been, can bring some reconnection and clarity: the fire is again kindled, the praises of the Easter candle are again sung, the Red Sea is safely crossed again, and the stone is rolled away from the tomb again. In the end, what else matters apart from that? Nothing.
As we proceed from this day forward, may we never forget all that Christ has done for us! No matter what we are facing, look to the resurrected Savior. Keep your focus upon Him. As you embrace all that He did for you, remember that He is YOUR Savior, YOUR hope!
May God Bless You and Grant You His Peace!