These Lenten reflections invite us to enter into the Gospel readings for Ash Wednesday and the Sundays of Lent.  Reflecting on the Gospel readings opens us up to the themes of Lent and their meaning in our lives.  At the heart of Lent is a call to conversion, an element present throughout the Gospels.

Easter Sunday

Opening:  Forty days ago we began this Lenten journey with ashes on our foreheads and the reminder of our own mortality and sinfulness.  And today we conclude this part of the journey with the celebration of Easter joy and the clear reminder that death has been overcome and our sins forgiven.  But the journey continues as the Christian life is always lived in light of the Resurrection. What insights of practices have you gained over these Lenten weeks that you hope to continue into the Easter season and beyond?

Gospel: There are several Gospels to select from as we look at the Easter celebration, from the one used at the Vigil to the one read at a later liturgy Easter Sunday evening.  We will reflect here on the Gospel from the Easter Vigil.

·         What image from the Gospel story stands out for you?

·         What verse or verses are important to you?  Which ones invite you to further reflection?

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.
Remember what he said to you while he was still in Galilee,
that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners
and be crucified, and rise on the third day.”
And they remembered his words.
Then they returned from the tomb
and announced all these things to the eleven
and to all the others.
The women were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James;
the others who accompanied them also told this to the apostles,
but their story seemed like nonsense
and they did not believe them.
But Peter got up and ran to the tomb,
bent down, and saw the burial cloths alone;
then he went home amazed at what had happened.

Lk 24:1-12

Reflection:  The women were doing what women do: attending to the details of life, going to the tomb with spices to anoint the body.  But a dreary and even dreaded activity becomes a moment of confusion and then of joy when they found the tomb empty and heard the words of two men in dazzling garments.  Hope beyond hope: Jesus’s body was gone, not because it had been stolen, but because he had risen on the third day as he had foretold. Little wonder the men didn’t believe them when the women returned within this amazing news.  They had to go tomb themselves to find the burial cloths in piles.

Over the next few hours and days the news would spread; what had seemed like nonsense became life-changing truth as Jesus appeared first to Mary Magdalene, then to the travelers on the road to Emmaus, and then to the other disciples.  The joy of the early followers must have been amazing; this is a joy that each of us can share in each Easter and each day.  E.E. Cummings speaks of this joy in his poem “i thank You God for most this amazing day”

i thank You God for most this amazing
day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday; this is the birth
day of life and of love and wings: and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any--lifted from the no
of all nothing--human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

E.E. Cummings

This is our Easter joy!

Lived faith:  Think about continuing the practice of reflecting on the Sunday Gospels as a way of deepening your faith and connecting with the life of the church.   Some online resources to draw on to enhance your reflection:  Daily Reflections from Creighton University includes reflections of the Gospel for each day; The Sunday Website from St. Louis University contains multiple thoughts and questions for reflection on the Gospel for each Sunday; and Loyola Press’ Sunday Connection provides background on the Gospel reading and some activities for various age groups and for families