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Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Easter Joy

From Fr. Don Talafous, Chaplain Emeritus, Saint John's Collegeville–

Easter hope and Easter joy. There is for many, I suspect, some difficulty with believing these are real. For one thing, the hope and belief we may have as Christians in a final resurrection, that last triumph over death, gets little support in our surroundings. Nonbelievers just don't believe it and Christians feel a bit apologetic about stressing it. It seems to imply that we shouldn't take this world and our tasks here seriously and we all know how much work this world needs from people of good will.
Perhaps there's a danger that we preachers speak of Easter in a way that is itself too up in the air. The hope and joy of Easter, like every other good in our faith, comes to us, to the world through human beings. The power of the Risen Christ working in those who put their trust in Him has to show itself in practical ways around us, in our lives. Easter hope becomes tangible when the neighborhood improves, when honesty grows more prevalent, when more people are ready to work for the safety of little children. Easter joy is apparent when those who believe in the Risen Lord show by their spirit that they are not crushed by the world, that they can still sing and laugh.