Easter Sunday, 4 April 2010

Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia! No words, no songs, no prayers can capture the full wonder of this Easter Morning. You are risen after the awful events of Good Friday. Calvary, Risen Lord, must have been beyond anything we can imagine. Looking at the Crucifix all my life I have become used to the sight of you there. But you will never forget the cost and you ask us, particularly as Passionist community and parish, never to forget. St Paul of the Cross, Founder of the Passionists, tells us that we are to keep alive the memory of your Passion and to bind up the wounds of your people.

This morning you are risen and among us as our Saviour. You see clearly the signs of the cross that are etched on every human heart. The sadness of those we have lost a love one in death over the past year. The broken hearts because one we loved has left us and the relationship or the marriage seems over. The worry of so many about the job that is finished and there is not another one in sight. The crippling anxiety about how the family will survive in this new situation that is so unexpected. The loneliness of so many who are living far away from home and miss their family and friends so much. The hurt felt by being misjudged and wrongly criticised but not having any way to undo the damage that has been done to our name in the sight of others.

This Easter Morning, Lord, you see and are broken hearted as You see the scandals in your Church in many countries. Some of your priests and consecrated religious betrayed You in the little ones who are your special friends. You are sad to see some leaders in your Church who failed to protect these little ones as you would want but were more concerned with reputation than with justice. Not one of us priests or religious can cast the first stone at others. This Easter Morning, Lord, on bended knees we pray the Mass of the Resurrection in reparation for these sins and crimes. You, Risen Lord, will care for Your people who suffered when they should have been safe in your Church.

Risen Lord, there are also a great number of people who daily and quietly go on loving and drawing closer to You. You have let me know some of these over the years: those who care for a family member through a long and debilitating illness without ever a word of complaint are with you in their Garden of Gethsemane; the parents who love their children and make sacrifices so that they may have what is necessary; the people who daily spend time with you in prayer and receive you in the Eucharist; the heroic people who carry your mission to the ends of the earth; the generous people, many of them young, who battle for justice and a better life for people in need. They leave aside good jobs and comfort to find you in the needy and the poor; the children who receive you in the Sacraments must say some wonderful things to You. It must do Your Heart good to hear them!

Risen Lord, on this Easter morning I can truthfully say that I have met You every day of my life through people like those I have tried to remember above. Without them, all the theology and the long hours in prayer would mean little without the witness of the great people I have met. It is a blessing, Risen Lord, to find that here at St Joseph’s, Paris, You are powerfully present in the people I meet. Thank you, Lord, for them and may this Easter Day bring us all closer to You and to each other. Alleluia, You are Risen!

Aidan Troy, C.P. [Aodhn Troighthigh, C.P.]