Happy Easter!  

Easter, you can’t possibly comprehend it, unless, you are possessed by the Holy Spirit and you’ve experienced rising from death to life.  What is an Easter experience?  It is a  liberation from darkness, from sin, and from death! A liberation, that allows Christ to  embrace us in his very life, a life of peace, a life of joy, and a life of love.  

Jesus provides us with the story of his friend Lazarus who falls ill and dies.  Jesus does get word that he is ill, but he doesn’t go to the home of Lazarus, until Lazarus has already passed.  Indeed, Lazarus is deceased four days before Jesus arrives to find many Jews comforting the grieving sisters of Lazarus, Mary and Martha.  Martha is told Jesus has arrived and she runs out to meet him.  She says to Jesus:  

               “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would never have died.  Even now, I am sure God will give you whatever you ask of him.”  Your brother will rise again,” Martha replied, “in the resurrection on the   last day.”  Jesus told her:  

               I am the resurrection and the life:
                Whoever believes in me .
                Though he/she should die, will rise to life;
                And whoever is alive and believes in me
                Will never die.  

There has probably not been another case of “rising from the dead”, in the way, Lazarus or Jesus did, but, as Jesus tells us above, “I am the resurrection and the life: Whoever believes in me, Though he/she should die, will rise to life”….That is our hope, that is our salvation, as persons in Christ, that if we live and die in Him, we will rise with Him.  That “rising with Christ” is our Easter event!  

How many of us can speak about “death-like” experiences?  I am referring to times in our lives when there is a pervading sense of darkness, of doom, or of despair.  Scripture refers to these times in our lives as “valleys” and Jesus says, you will know many troubles in this world.  He also says, that He came so that those who are destined to return to the Father are not devoured by darkness. In those times, that we would describe as “death” experiences, we also experience, “rising to new life”, because Christ is in us, and carries us through the death experience to a resurrection.  We might have many of these episodes in our lives, until, we reach, our final, physical death and resurrection in Christ.  

Indeed, while we can speak of our personal deaths and resurrections in Christ, I believe, the Universal Church is undergoing a resurrection experience with the election of Pope Francis.  We have witnessed Pope Francis conduct himself in a humble and compassionate manner.  While I rejoice at these signs of Christ emanating from the Vatican, I am also anxious to see Francis address the weighty issues of Church crisis, that have long kept us in the “death” and “darkness” mode.  The Church’s Easter would certainly be that Pope Francis moves along and makes some critical appointment changes in the Curia, especially with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.  There are injustices that must be corrected in our Church and I pray that Pope Francis does not see the “injustices” within the Church, as petty, compared to global injustice and poverty. Addressing the Church’s “filth” as he might call it and righting wrongs is crucial and so while we have the promise of Easter and the promise of a new Pentecost for the Church, I can only see that realized when Pope Francis “tackles” the issues, the challenges, the scandals, and the sins of the Church.  After seeing the caliber of man and priest, that he appears to be, his credibility for me remains to be proven in how he manages the Church’s internal affairs. Given the promise that he seems to be, I admittedly expect a lot, and I sincerely hope, I’m not disappointed!  I have to say, that when I see him, embracing Pope Benedict, to the extent, that he has, I am somewhat concerned, that Pope Francis, might not only be reinforcing that Benedict is his “brother”, but also excusing all the wrongs, that accompanied “Brother Benedicts’ Pontificate”.  .  May the Church continue to experience Easter, as Pope Francis, fulfills his mission from Christ to “repair the Church”.  

May all of you, experience, the greatness of Easter!

See: Pope Francis' Easter services could hint at Vatican reform