EASTER LOVE- HE IS RISEN
The other meaning of Easter is LOVE
Love because it was the love of God that he not just send his Son to be with us, but to die for us and for our sins and through this LOVE get us back to God and to each other. Today we can see Easter happening through those who have gone through the passion with Christ and have experienced his Resurrection and love in their lives and want to spread it to those around them.
It is love that lifts us up to Heights. Today, if we have been with Christ, we will surely feel His Risen Body in our own lives that is making us feel capable and possible to overcome the weight of sin and rise to height of holiness.
LOVE GIVES YOU WINGS
You must have seen a big jet plane a 747 which can carry up to four hundred and ninety passengers. It is fascinating to see such an aircraft take off! How can it fly with a weight of 345 tons? The secret is in its speed. Speed till it takes off. The engines attached to its wings are very heavy, but they are the ones that pull the Jumbo Jet from the ground and take it over the oceans. The flight is made possible, thanks to that additional weight.
The other day , on the street, I saw a delicate young woman who carried her baby in her arms. The child was beautiful and the mother seemed to be too slender to carry such a big baby. She had a constant smile on her face and seemed to be dancing all the time, as if the child was about to lift her up. Actually, it would be truer to say that the child was “propelling” her.
This is just to say that the one who loves is swift-footed, because love gives you “wings”. Children transfigure the lives of their parents. They give them strength and life. They lighten their burdens. They make parents “fly” and give the best of themselves. Who is able to measure all that men and women can do every day for their children, without ever growing tired of it?
One morning, in June 1993, Raul Coutinho and two other workmen were checking an engine at the ‘Steel Plant’ in Margao. Suddenly, a furnace blew up. The other two were killed on the spot and Rau was horribly burnt. Sixty workers from the plant, some of whom did not even know Coutinho personally, each offered the doctors a few square inches of their skin to save their fellow worker. Raul came
out of it all perfectly cured. Before leaving the hospital, he wanted to thank his generous companions. Everyone of them bears on his body a mark that will never be effaced.
Just like Raul’s companion all bore the marks on their body of the love they had. We through our Baptism have the mark of Christ in us. The scars of his passion must always remain in us, to remind us of his great love for each one of us and that we ought to be the same to others too.
This selfless love of God for each one of us was seen on the cross and through the marks of the nails. We being his followers and disciples have these marks as well.
In today’s liturgy we can once again see love; love through 3 symbolic gestures and things.
THE SYMBOLS
The first symbol used is the vigil itself; to spend the night praying waiting for Christ, the light. Our love for Christ, waiting for him at the tomb, as we wait for our loved ones.
The second symbol is the light. The dawn, the splendor of the Risen Body (remember the Transfiguration) and the way John presents Jesus: “while I am in the world, I am the Light of the world.” The whole theology of John revolves around light and darkness. This is the night of Light, of the victory over death and over sin.
Light is presented in the paschal candle, which involves another symbolism very ancient, simple and profound. The candle is consumed to illumine others. It is wholly there to provide light for others and is consumed in the process. It is a perfect symbol of Christ. Our little candles are all the same size, but receive their light from Him. It is the only value the whole candle has, and of the whole life of a Christian: to be consumed in order to give light to others.
Candle- gives of itself to dispel darkness. The light of Christ in our lives too, who is constantly dispelling darkness from our sinful lives because he loves us. Thus the Candle is a true symbol of Christ’s love.
The third symbol is water. That is why we celebrate our entrance into the Church through Baptism, our incorporation into the light, our participation in the New Life of Christ.
Water, a very rich symbol, has many meanings. In the first place, water means cleanliness. We are cleansed from our sins. We celebrate forgiveness, for God is water always ready to cleanse. Secondly, water is fertility. We are celebrating Life.
Jesus is life. We can say after we have known Jesus “this is life”, and eternal life, while the life of human beings without Jesus is drought and sterility. Thirdly, the symbol “coming out of the water” was used in the Church to mean “escaping from death” as the people of Israel in the Red Sea, even though this symbol has been falling into disuse.
God’s love seen in the water: because he constantly wants to cleanse us, give us new life and make us fruitful and be a source of well spring for others.
Thus these symbols which we use daily, must remind us of God’s love, through His Son Jesus: therefore we need to:
– Keep vigil: preparation for the Lord’s supper, His resurrection.
– Candles: we use them at each eucharist that reminds us of Christ the Light, who came to dispel darkness and to light up our lives.
– Water: our very Baptism and our Baptismal promises that we have taken.
We do all this because we love and to always want to remain in love with God.
Fr. Franco Pereira, S.D.B.