Easter Sunday

The gospel relates: "Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb." (Jn 20: 1) We know from the other gospels that she had come to complete the customary preparations for burial that had been cut short by the Passover on Friday afternoon. What must have been in her heart at the point!? I think that most of us have an inkling of what it must have been like because through the suffering and deaths of loved ones we too have in different ways experience the cross. We commemorated the tragedy of the cross on Good Friday sacramentally. We now come to sacramentally enact the resurrection at the Easter Vigil and the Sunday Mass. The question is, however, as we have known the cross, have we likewise known something of the power of the Risen Christ?  How do I know if I have experienced this power? One way to verify this is to reflect on what I am focused in my life. Am I taken up with material things and status or do I set my hearts on intangible and spiritual realities?: "If you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God." (Col 3: 1) This is not a question of day dreaming or fantasy. If I encounter Christ and follow him I will know the power of the Holy Spirit now and have a sure and certain hope that I will share in his glory in the age to come: "When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory." (Col 3: 4) Another way  to determine the impact of the resurrection in my life is whether I have known his forgiveness in my life: "All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name." (Acts 10: 43) May you all know the power of the Risen One this Easter and may that experience fill you with the joy and gratitude that only Christ can give.