March 23, 2008, Easter Sunday
The Lenten and Easter seasons have always been the most thought provoking in the liturgical year. However, there is such a deep contrast in how I see the lessons we can learn at this time from the lessons I learned as youngster. I remember the days when so much emphasis was placed on the sufferings of Christ and our sinfulness that we hardly had any energy left over to truly appreciate the blessings of the resurrection of Jesus. So many of our prayers stressed our sinfulness and depicted our life on earth as a valley of tears, so that the joys and God-given legitimate pleasures of life were minimized. Pope John XXIII and the Second Vatican Council changed a lot of that for me.
In
the middle and late 70's when I was a parish priest at Queen of Heaven and the
people living north of the parish by Gate of Heaven Cemetery asked for a church
closer to them. Access to Queen of Heaven was rather difficult at that time
because the roads were nothing compared to what they are today. As I started
meeting with the people and thinking of the possibility of a church and an
eventual parish in that area, we started brainstorming as to what we could name
that church and parish. I thought, This is my opportunity of stressing the
resurrection of Jesus, so I came up with the name Risen Savior and to my
surprise, everyone was in favor of it after I explained my reasons.
When I left Queen of Heaven and took up my duties as parish priest at Risen Savior, I thought ways of emphasizing the importance and meaning for us of Christ's resurrection. We were right next door to Gate of Heaven Cemetery, so the first Easter there we scheduled a sunrise service/Mass at the cemetery and to my surprise, we had people from all over the city, many of whom had loved ones buried there. It was a connection between death and our Christian hope of resurrection that brought them there. We experienced some cold mornings, but the beauty of seeing the sun come over the Sandias at the very heart of our celebration made it all worthwhile. My Mom was living with me at the time and she insisted on attending every sunrise service as long as she lived. She called it an opportunity. I hope that they still carry on that tradition since it creates such a wonderful moment for reflection on the meaning of resurrection.
I remember my first impressions as a child attending what was called then sabado de gloria morning service, now called Easter Vigil. The statues were covered and there was a huge curtain in front of the tabernacle, as they started singing the Gloria, the curtain came down and suddenly all the statues were uncovered. I was not aware of the ushers standing by the statues with long sticks to uncover them, so I wondered how it all happened so quickly and who was doing it. My parents explained that the death of Jesus on the cross was not the end, but that it led up to the resurrection of Jesus and how he saved us and made it possible for us to attain the everlasting joy and happiness of heaven.
As I studied the theology of liberation in the days of Pope John XXIII, I was deeply impressed by the statements I read there that Jesus not only gained heaven for us, but reminded us that by his life, death and resurrection he wanted to liberate the human family from any and every thing that enslaved it. This gave new meaning to the resurrection because it made me realize how Almighty God works through each and every one of us in the process of liberation.
In
Matthew Jesus said, "I was hungry, you gave me to eat; I was thirsty and you
gave me to drink; I was a stranger and you welcomed me, etc." So Jesus
identified his sufferings with those of the human family that are victimized.
And what makes it more emphatic is that those of us who reach out to alleviate
the suffering of others are invited by Jesus to enter into his kingdom. In
contrast, Jesus has some harsh words for those who have no concern for the
suffering of their neighbors, "Depart from me."
Every time that I read about someone doing something to alleviate suffering, I think of the resurrection because our Christian hope is based on the resurrection of Jesus. Is it again the sun rising over the Sandias bringing light and wealth to all? God did not create us to suffer but gave us the opportunity to help each other live with hope of something better for everyone. It seems to me that if you believe in the true meaning of resurrection it is more than we find on some of those nice holy cards where we see Jesus coming forth from the grave with all kinds of bright lights around him. We focus more on all the beautiful things that Jesus did in his life here on earth to make life better for others. The resurrection of Jesus should inspire us to do as Jesus did and become involved to do all we can to make life better for all by liberating them from all that enslaves them, be it poverty or wealth, or any of those extreme causes that ultimately result in so much suffering. He is truly risen, Alleluia.