As we celebrate Easter in the midst of this Pandemic, we are drawn deeply into the Pascal Mystery and the great Power of the Resurrection. It may not “feel” like Easter. It is so different, it is so hard. Nothing is the same anymore. For me it’s so strange as today April 12th my dear mother would have celebrated here 89th birthday.
For many we wonder how can we be celebrating so much pain, so much sickness, so much death. But this is at the very heart of our need to celebrate today. For us as a Christian people our very hope for living in this new and different reality is only possible through to fact that Jesus, the Son of the Living God, is Risen from the Dead. You see God is brining us all to a place of recognizing that He is and will do something new in our lives at Easter.
In the Gospel that we listen to this Easter we find two women coming to the tomb of Jesus. They are preparing to perform the ordinary and normal custom of expressing their love, sorrow and compassion by anointing the body of Jesus. They loved Jesus, and walked with Him through His ministry and to the end of His life. But they encounter the unexpected, something new and unexpected has happened. Following an earthquake, they encounter an angel, the stone rolled away and the tomb is empty. Their lives have now be turned again upside down. Something new and frightening has occurred and they are led by the angel to the place where he was laid. The one that they had come to anoint is not there He is Risen! Now it begins, their lives are changed for ever. They are sent to go and proclaim the Good News of the resurrection
We are much like these women we find all that has happened around us new, frightening, and out right surprising. I think of the phone calls of my mother’s death, my cousin’s death and my dear friend and fellow Divine Word Missionary Fr. Chester Smith’s death, all frightening, surprising and out right shocking. This paired with all that is happening in our world with the fear and uncertainty of this Coronavirus, the uncertainty of my parishioners and my parish, it all seems to much.
Feeling wearied, weighed down and frightened we wonder how we will cope through all this. Let us not close our hearts and not loose confidence and never give up. This Easter we are invited to open ourselves to Jesus in a new way. You see there is no situation that God cannot handle. The uncertainty that we find ourselves in is sure to be used by God to do something new and great in our lives.
Like the women who encountered the empty tomb they experienced a moment that changed their lives forever. This life changing moment shapes their lives into a total new reality. The resurrection of Jesus is not just a historic moment but rather, the Risen Jesus is Alive here and now! This is the only place that we can go, it is truly the source for our living.
If you don’t know the Risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, I ask you to invite Him into your heart into your life in a personal way. Last week I spoke of the need for a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. This personal relationship is with the One who is truly Real and in the newness and uncertainty of life be assured that Jesus is present in your circumstances and so desires to take you to a new and deeper place in your walk with Him as our loving Risen Savior.
HOMILÍA DOMINGO DE PASCUA, ABRIL 12, 2020
Al celebrar la Pascua en medio de esta pandemia, nos sentimos profundamente inmersos en el misterio pascual y el gran poder de la resurrección. Puede que no "se sienta" como la Pascua. Es muy diferente, es muy difícil. Ya nada es igual. Para mí es tan extraño. Hoy, 12 de abril, mi querida madre habría celebrado su cumpleaños número 89. Muchos nos preguntamos cómo podemos celebrar tanto dolor, tanta enfermedad, tanta muerte. Pero esto está en el corazón de nuestra necesidad de celebrar hoy. Para nosotros, un pueblo cristiano, nuestra esperanza de vivir en esta realidad nueva y diferente solo es posible gracias al hecho de que Jesús, el Hijo del Dios viviente, ha resucitado de entre los muertos. Vemos que Dios nos está llevando a todos a un lugar donde reconocemos que Él es y hará algo nuevo en nuestras vidas en la Pascua.
Em el Evangelio que escuchamos esta Pascua nos encontramos con dos mujeres que vienen a la tumba de Jesús. Se están preparando para realizar la costumbre ordinaria y normal de expresar su amor, tristeza y compasión ungiendo el cuerpo de Jesús. Amaban a Jesús y caminaban con Él a través de su ministerio y hasta el final de su vida. Pero se encuentran con lo inesperado, algo nuevo e inesperado ha sucedido. Después de un terremoto, se encuentran con un ángel, la piedra rodó y la tumba está vacía.
Sus vidas ahora se han vuelto al revés. Algo nuevo y aterrador ha ocurrido, son llevados por el ángel al
lugar donde habían acostado a Jesús. El que habían venido a ungir no está allí, él ha resucitado. Ahora
comienza un cambio en sus vidas para siempre. Son enviadas para ir y proclamar las Buenas Nuevas de la resurrección.
Somos muy parecidos a estas mujeres, encontramos que todo lo que ha sucedido a nuestro alrededor es nuevo, aterrador y sorprendente. Pienso en las llamadas telefónicas sobre la muerte de mi madre, la muerte de mi primo y mi querido amigo y misionero del Verbo Divino, el Padre. La muerte de Padre Chester Smith,SVD fue aterradora, sorprendente e impactante. Esto, junto con todo lo que está sucediendo en
nuestro mundo con el miedo y la incertidumbre de este Coronavirus, la incertidumbre de mis feligreses y mi parroquia, todo parece demasiado.
Sintiéndonos cansados, agobiados y asustados, nos preguntamos cómo haremos frente a todo esto. No cerremos nuestros corazones y no perdamos la confianza y nunca nos rindamos. Esta Pascua estamos invitados a abrirnos a Jesús de una manera nueva. Usted ve que no hay una situación que Dios no pueda manejar. La incertidumbre en la que nos encontramos seguramente será utilizada por Dios para hacer algo nuevo grandioso en nuestras vidas.
