Life and Light!

It has been a momentous couple of weeks!  Meeting our new Holy Father, Pope Francis; entering into the last week of Lent with its Holy Tridium; celebrating with great joy our Lord’s Resurrection!  How can we take it all in?!  I have been hard pressed to know just what to share but today, during Mass, many thoughts came into clear focus for me. 

In a brief homily during Mass our pastor said the Lord’s Resurrection is so significant, so important, that the Church gives us a whole week to celebrate one day – Easter day!  The Church provides a way to “savor” the glorious mystery during this Easter week.  As I was savoring the moment during the Consecration it was like my eyes were opened and I saw the Lord’s Presence in a new way.  Anyone who follows the news knows that we are living in a time of confusion, anxiety, darkness.  But Jesus has risen from the dead, He is alive, and he has chosen to remain with us, to be a great light in the darkness!  The Jesus whom we receive in the Eucharist is not a dead Jesus but the Risen One!  As the priest lifts up the host for our adoration it is as if there is a great light emanating from the host, chasing away the darkness in our minds and hearts! 

In his homily for the Easter vigil, Pope Francis said that “Jesus no longer belongs to the past, but lives in the present and is projected towards the future; he is the everlasting ‘today’ of God…  Our daily problems and worries can wrap us up in ourselves, in sadness and bitterness…and that is where death is.  That is not the place to look for the One who is alive!  Let the risen Jesus enter your life, welcome him as a friend, with trust: he is life!  If up till now you have kept him at a distance, step forward, He will receive you with open arms.” 

Let us remember that as we “step forward” to receive Him in the Eucharist.  He is alive and He wants to come into our hearts, to inflame them and illuminate them with the fire of His Love! 

May you continue to have a joyful, happy Easter!