The Easter People: people of hope!

EASTER OCTAVE 2022

Monday, April 18 : Acts 2:14, 22-33; Mathew 28:8-15

Easter people are people filled with hope, a hope that never fails. They are people of hope, precisely because there are so many things around them, that are against them. They are people of hope, not because it is easy for them to be so, or it is convenient to hold on to hope that to face reality. No. They are people of hope because they knew there is no way to really have their way, unless there is something, or someone, totally beyond them comes in to intervene! 

They had already suffered so much but the plotting and scheming was still going on. In spite of the plotting against the resurrection of Christ, Jesus never gave up, until the plotters in their desperation give up these attempts. And the believers were showered upon with grace after grace.

Monday of the Easter Octave, we hear the plan of those who wanted Jesus dead and gone, and now to deter any further spread of the Good news of Christ. The implication for the believers was exactly the opposite of what the plotters wished... it was a concrete attachment to the Lord, the Lord of hope. 

The message given to us is strong and clear: in spite of all those who would plot our downfall or await our failure, we are called to grow in love, the love that can offer hope to the world. That is how we can grow into true people of hope - giving hope to a world that is so wounded and tired, of hatred and greed, jealous and pride. Only when we grow to be people of hope, can we claim to be the Easter People.