“He Is Not Here, But He Has Been Raised”.by Jim Bayne

“He Is Not Here, But He Has Been Raised”.by Jim Bayne

Easter Sunday

(Jesus) commissioned us to preach to the people and testify that he is the one appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead. To him, all the prophets bear witness, that everyone who believes in him will receive forgiveness of sins through his name.”  (Acts 10:42-43)

This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad.  (Ps 118:24)

Brothers and sisters: If then you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.  (Col 3:1)

At daybreak on the first day of the week, the women who had come from Galilee with Jesus took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb; but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were puzzling over this, behold, two men in dazzling garments appeared to them. They were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground. They said to them, “Why do you seek the living one among the dead? He is not here, but he has been raised.  (Luke 24:1-6)

Piety

Collect

O God, who on this day,

through your Only Begotten Son,

have conquered death

and unlocked for us the path to eternity,

grant, we pray, that we who keep

the solemnity of the Lord’s Resurrection

may, through the renewal brought by your Spirit,

rise up in the light of life.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

Study

Last week, I came across a piece in which a young college student tried to explain the existence of God to his atheist professor.  He began by asking the professor a series of questions about the existence of cold.  He pointed out that cold does not exist.  Otherwise, we would be able to go colder than absolute zero,  –459.67°F.  Absolute zero (-459.67̊ F) is the total absence of heat.

Next, he did the same thing with darkness. Darkness is not something; it is the absence of something.  Darkness is the absence of light.

He concluded by stating that like, cold and darkness, evil does not exist either.  It is simply the absence of God.

We have come through the darkness of Lent and Good Friday into the Light of Christ.  God, in the form of Jesus of Nazareth is no longer absent.  Today is the feast of the Light of Christ Jesus risen from the dead; risen from the darkness of the tomb. 

At the Easter vigil last night, the service was started in total darkness.  The darkness was first dissipated by the lighting of the new fire.  It was further dissipated by the lighting of the Easter candle.  Then each person present added their little light as their individual candles were lit.  Pretty soon the entire church was bathed in light.  The darkness no longer existed.

This, symbolically, is how the light of Christ is brought to the world each and every day. Each of us, by contributing our little light brings the light of Christ to the world.  Without our little light, the world is a little bit darker.

Action

As members of the Cursillo community, we have the privilege of bringing our little light to the world by living our lives of Piety, Study, and Action.  We can brighten our light by devoting more time to our Piety, Study, and Action.

Rather than just reporting a moment close to the Lord at your weekly group reunion, report all of the ways in which you encountered Christ in your life this week: in the sacraments, Liturgy of the Hours, Eucharistic adoration, Lectio Divina, Centering Prayer, nature, in the life of the people you met this week, or through your own desert experiences (think of Mother Teresa's 50 years without consolation).

How did you brighten your light through the study of more than just a single magazine article?  Perhaps you met with a small group to work your way through the study guide that goes with Richard Rohr's new New York Times bestseller The Universal Christ.

Another possibility is David Brooks' new book, The Second Mountain.  This book tells the life stories of people who are actually living Richard Rohr's "second half of life," that is, using all of the resources gained in the first half of life to serve the needs of others.  What a way to bring the light of Christ to the world!

How did you trim the wick of your candle through Apostolic Action within your own family? Did you take time away from your electronic device to talk to your children about the light of Christ?  Did you take time to tell them how much you love them and how valuable they are to the life of your family? Did you take time to listen to your work colleagues personal dilemma and thereby bring some light into his/her life?  Did you give a few bucks to the homeless person you encountered at the stop light?

These are just a few ways in which each of us can enhance our own Easter experience and that of the little lights in our environment.