So what’s the big deal with Easter? So some guy rose from the dead big whoop. What’s it mean for me?
If all we had was Good Friday then our life and our world would be totally at the mercy of those who do evil. Falsity would triumph over truth, injustice over justice, evil over good. Like Jesus, we could expect to be falsely charged of crimes we did not commit and unjustly sentenced to a death we do not deserve. Our good friends would betray us, desert us and deny us, and we’d have to suffer in silence. What would be the point of trying to live with integrity, decency, compassion and love? And don’t kid yourself: Good Friday is alive and well throughout the world, including in our own country.
But Good Friday, thanks be to God, is not the end of the story. There is one more chapter. Jesus rises from the dead in all glory and majesty. The way of life He taught us is vindicated. He is now the Lord who will prevail over all humankind, His enemies included. For us His embattled followers this is good news.
It is good news to know that truth is immortal. We can suppress Truth, accuse it of being a lie, condemn it, torture it, kill it, bury it in the grave but Truth will rise again. Remember this and do not give up on Truth even when everybody seems to give up on it. Do not give up on Justice. Do not give up on doing what is right. True will always be true. Just will always be just. Right will always be right, even when some people would have it otherwise. We must learn to believe in the sun even when it is not shining, knowing that by and by it will shine again. It is the end of the story that counts. That is why the church asks us today to rejoice and be glad. Evil only seems to have the last word.
Even when we are going through difficult times personally, or as citizens of the USA and world, as members of the Church, the resurrection of Jesus tells us that God always wins in the end. Just as Good Friday is alive and well through the world, so too is Easter. Christ has won. And we know that in Christ we shall overcome.
May you and yours be blessed with a Happy Easter!
Fr. Herb Yost, C.S.C.
