BEING EASTER PEOPLE TODAY

EASTER SUNDAY: 20th APRIL 2014

He is risen and he goes before you to Galilee, announces the angel today! Yes, the Lord is Risen! Alleluia! And he has resumed his life… we have to keep pace with him today! The Risen Lord invites us to be Easter People Today. The world is in need of Easter People; if I am not an easter person there is one hope less. The Resurrection of the Lord invites us to a life of difference, to know the difference, to make a difference and to feel the difference! We cannot conform to the world, the Lord calls us to a transformation of the mind and spirit (cf.Rom12:2) that we may challenge the world. This non-conformity to the world is what marked the Early Christians from the rest of the people… the world recognized they were a different people, they were easter people!

The world today poses promises after promises for a happy life – possessions, comforts, popularity, power, pleasure… all these are presented to us as sure means of happiness in life! But a closer look at the situation today will let us know instantly how unreal these are. They make you slog with a promise of a great future till you suddenly realize that future never comes… you slog, slog and slog only to finally leave everything behind with a heavy heart and a resentment of the lost past. From these unreal promises, the Risen Lord invites us to the Real: to know the difference, the difference between the fleeting promises and the promises that stand forever! Being Easter People Today demands that we know this difference, the difference that the Lord wants to make in our lives. He has risen precisely for that, that he may make a difference! Shifting our focus from the unreal promises of an unreal happiness, the Lord invites us to focus on the Real promises of joy: that my joy may be in you and your joy may be  complete (Jn14:11). It is in living our life in union with the Lord, experience the love of the Lord and sharing it generously with our brothers and sisters, that our joy can be Real, lasting and permanent. Don’t you think as Easter people we have something concrete to offer to the world in this regard?

The world today reports darkness and darkness everywhere – Killings, Terrorism, Crisis, Abuse, Exploitation, Deception, Suicides and such news of desperation fill the dailies and the newstubes today. There is darkness everywhere because people have gone a long way with the unreal images and misleading guideposts. But the Risen Lord fills us with hope that it is no point of no return! There is a hope, if we as Easter People accept our call to move from the darkness to the Light. The same Lord who said, “I am the Light of the world” (Jn 8:12) looks at each of us and says, “You are the light of the world” (Mt 5:14). Arise! Shine! For your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you, says Prophet Isaiah (Is 60:1). No darkness can overcome the Easter People…we are people of the light and this light we have to let it shine, let the world see, let the world be guided. Often times, the sad fact is that we do not realize who we are and continue to lament on the darkness that surrounds…there is unrest, there is crisis, there is hatred, there is desperation… yes they are there, but what have I done to make a difference! What have I changed within myself, what  have I contributed to my setting, what have I changed around me to make a difference? Without really having done anything to make a difference can I claim myself to be an Easter Person? What meaning would it have to celebrate Easter then?

The world today is rushing into a culture of death, warns us Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. Hopeless pessimism, inhuman utilitarianism, exaggerated materialism, limitless consumerism…these are signs of the Reign of the Evil one, of the kingdom of death!  The Risen Lord invites us from this reign of death to the glory of eternal life. An unfailing optimism, love filled relationships, balanced understanding of development and advancement, use of things and love for people…these are the signs of eternity, because they will never end. We are called to be people who feel the presence of these signs within us and witness to these infront of the word today. An Easter person has to be filled with life and has to fill those around him with life. Standing against the culture of death we are called to witness for optimism rather than desperation, to opt for love rather than exploitation, to liberate ourselves from slaveries and challenge the world to a liberated life style. The Risen Lord fills us with this life… a life that is filled with Joy, a life that is lit with Truth and a life that is defined by hope. Let us take it to the rest of the World as the disciples took the risen Lord to the rest of the world.

Being Easter people today demands that we know the difference between the unreal and the Real, that we make a difference and lead the world from darkness to Light, and that we feel the difference that the Risen Lord offers us: the promise, the gift and the hope of Eternal Life.

WISH YOU A VERY HAPPY EASTER...BE FILLED WITH THE HOPE OF THE RISEN LORD!!!