Easter Reflections

Easter Reflections by Fr Marcus Francis

Dear parishioners, visitors and people of goodwill

I hope you have a moment to read these reflections which I have composed to help us make sense of the Easter Triduum – the great three days of Easter. In them I hope you find an insight to locate the power of the Risen Christ in your own lives and so be refreshed in faith, hope and love this Easter. Mass is an encounter with the Christ whom we believe to be risen and his life is mediated to us both in the Word and Communion. May your visit to this church today be truly blessed no matter what  your stage of life or the state of your prayer life.

Holy Thursday

Much has been made of the decision by Pope Francis to wash the feet of people other than men on Holy Thursday. Some see it at as a challenge to tradition and in fact even to doctrine. I think we need to look closer at the situation before we jump to any conclusions. We have to remember that the liturgy has the ceremonial at the Vatican as its paradigm however this needs to be adjusted throughout the world according to legitimate variations. These variations take account of the options given by the liturgy itself or the circumstances in which individuals find themselves. For instance, what would a priest do when, as a chaplain to a convent of contemplative nuns, he is to celebrate the Mass of the Lord’s Supper? Does this mean he cannot wash anyone’s feet because no men are present? We say that the Pope is servus servorum Dei – the Servant of the servants of God. This was a title claimed by Pope St Gregory the Great. The deacons are the ones in the church who have a special role, through ordination, of serving. The Pope traditionally would wash the feet of twelve deacons thus being the servant of the servants. The deacons being all men meant that the equivalent was asked of others in throughout the world would be to have twelve men. To my mind it has nothing to do with the institution of the Eucharist and the priesthood. It has more to do with how the priesthood is to be lived out. That is a challenge, in particular, to the ordained priests, as well as to all who are baptised and thus share in the priesthood of Christ. In this sense washing the feet of the humblest parishioners, men, women or children, would be the most suitable thing to do in our part of the world.

Good Friday

What a dark and terrible day! Jesus, the light of the world, is snuffed out. In his mission he preached that God would never forget us. He showed how God’s Kingdom was in fact very near to us and with his miracles that we need not be condemned to experience oppression, loss and sin forever. Jesus gave people hope. Now, after a period of brutal and terrfying violence Jesus, together with all the hope, he inspired in his followers is put to death. The Devil, frustrated during the Temptations in the Desert, now he has his hour. Not only that he is victorious. Sometimes, we come to those moments of irredeemable loss. It is important that we acknowledge them for what they are. This is because they tell us what life would be like without the Lord and the Resurrection. If you want to know what the existential experience of atheists ultimately is all you need to do is to enter the absurdity and suffering of Good Friday when the Lord had been taken down from the Cross and all was quiet on Calvary.

Easter Vigil

On the third day after the crucifixion, using the Jewish method of calculation, the despair of Good Friday is suddenly dispelled. Christ illuminates the darkness with a flame that can never be extinguished. He is Risen as he said! In this the disciples know him to be God because he did what only God could do. He opened the eyes of a man who had been born blind but now he opens up our eyes to the power, mercy and love of God which overcomes even the rejection of the crucifixion. This is the only explanation for the fact that the disciples who were ardent and committed Jews could ever think that a human being was God. The resurrection is amazing. The resurrection is miraculous. Come to think of it so is Creation. That things simply are rather than nothing at all continues to astonish us and yet here we are a part of it. In the same way the Resurrection is a new creation – the eighth day – when God does something new. It amazes us and astonishes us yet we are a part of the Resurrection and it is the life of the Risen Christ into which we have been baptised and thereby born into the promise of a life that has no end. Your presence at Mass is an act of gratitude for the gift of the resurrection and the acknowledgement of Christ’s power in your own life. He is Risen indeed, alleluia, alleluia!

Easter Sunday Morning

The Gospel for the Easter morning Mass comes from the Gospel according to John. Mary Magdalene comes to the tomb overcome with grief. She had been at Calvary on Good Friday and now she has come to grieve privately at the tomb. To add insult to injury she finds that the tomb is empty. Not only has the Lord been put to death his body has been stolen as well! In that moment of profound sadness the Risen Christ appears to her. She does not recognise him until he calls her by name. Her response is to try to hold on to him but the Lord instructs her to tell the others. Sometimes in our lives we have to deal with sadness, grief and loss. Like Mary we return in our minds or even in person to the situation or emotion time and time again. We feel alone and seemingly abandoned by God and by others. As times goes past even the memories start to fade and the reality of that moment is taken away. All we have left is loss and sadness. In our faith, however, especially in the sacraments, the Risen Christ is there for us and his power is manifest. We may not realise it straight away but in time we see that it is the Lord who was carrying us all along just like in the well known parable of "Footprints." In that experience we are instructed not to hold onto the past or to remain in our grief rather we are to share our hope, faith and experience of grace with others. In this way our faith is both verified and our wound is healed. Mary was special because her faith led her to seek the Lord even after his death. She did not hide away in the Upper Room, like Peter, nor did she commit suicide like Judas. Perhaps we need some of her faith and perseverance to carry us through the trials and griefs in our life so we, too, will know the power of the resurrection and have the Lord call us by name.

Happy Easter everyone!