Dear Parishioners,

Happy Easter!

Who doesn’t love Easter? It comes in the springtime of the year and heralds the imminent return of warm weather, colorful flora, rejuvenated trees, and meaningful rites of passage like First Communions, Confirmations, graduations, and weddings. Easter day typically brings families and friends together (without the gift-giving agenda as at Christmas) for light-hearted laughter, elaborate feasting, and heart-warming recollections of loved ones who have since gone home to God. Regardless of how strictly one may or may not have observed the disciplines of Lent, Easter Sunday is a day of conscious excess for everyone with the universal call to REJOICE. This call is the human response to the divine action of the Resurrection—the action by which God the Father vindicated the sacrifice of His Son on the cross. Without this action, there could be no Christianity. Our faith would be empty and, in the words of Saint Paul, we would be the most foolish of people (1 Cor. 15:14).

We might wonder how the earliest disciples of Jesus thought of themselves after the tragic event of His death which, for them, was an enormous crisis. In their minds, the trial, condemnation, and execution of Jesus were not supposed to have happened. Would these disciples not have considered themselves fools who had been duped by the teachings and remarkable deeds of the wandering preacher named Jesus? He performed breathtaking miracles for others but was incapable of preventing His own ignominious death. He was able to change people’s hearts and bring them to a new realization of God, but could not dissuade the crowds from demanding His crucifixion.

Their faith in Jesus, as well as in themselves, must surely have been decimated. This would account for their denial and abandonment of Him on that fateful night of His arrest. They would also have been terrified that they, Jesus’ closest allies, would be the next targets for public execution. And so they hid, crippled by fear behind locked doors, wondering if each strange sound from the streets, each knock on their door, or each dog that barked in the night might signal the wrath of Rome that awaited those who threatened its authority.

But then, on that first day of the week after Jesus’ death, everything was turned upside down. The discovery of the empty tomb and the appearances of the risen Christ became unexpected experiences that utterly transformed these disciples and eventually the entire course of history.

Where does this leave us two thousand years later? It leaves us with the privilege of continuing the proclamation of the early disciples by announcing that Jesus is alive among us even when all else seems to the contrary. This proclamation is given expression by our words of hope and our actions of service that reflect the New Creation which the resurrection of Jesus unleashed upon the world.

I offer the following Meal Prayer that might be used throughout the fifty days of Easter when family and friends come together to share fellowship and food.

Easter prayer before the meal

Leader: This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad, let us praise the Lord for His goodness. For behold, Jesus died and now lives forevermore. Alleluia!

All: He has gone before us. Yet He is with us for all time. Alleluia!

Leader: Lord, on this most holy day (or “in this most holy season”) let Your blessing rest upon us and upon our table. Strengthen us in this time together. We ask this in Jesus’ name.

All: Amen.

Easter prayer after the meal

Leader: God of our joy, we thank You for this meal and for all that comes to us through Your beloved Son, who is truly risen from the grave forever and ever.

All: Amen.

Taken from: To Thank and Bless: Prayers at Meals, by Dietrich Reinhart, OSB and Michael Kwatera, OSB, published by Liturgical Press, Collegeville, MN, 2007.

May the risen Christ bless our families and our parish community with the life-giving power of His divine love.

Fr. Gabriel, O.S.B

BACK TO LIST