The celebration of Easter is not about spring dresses, indulging in your favorite sweets, or egg hunts. It is about the glorious resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ. To understand the importance of the day we must understand the Easter Triduum – Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday. The evening of the Last Supper, Holy Thursday, Jesus gave us the bread and wine as the body and blood of Christ. On that evening, Jesus would be betrayed three times before the cock crowed leading to His crucifixion on Good Friday.
Pontius Pilot condemned Jesus to death for crimes He did not commit. Jesus accepted His fate, as He knew it was in the plan of the Holy Father. Christ bore the burdens of the world as He drew His last breaths on the cross on Good Friday. His body was removed from the wooden cross and mourned by His mother, the Holy Virgin Mary. His human body was embalmed and placed in a tomb sealed by a large boulder.
On the third day of His death, Mary Magdalene and the other women found the boulder of the tomb rolled away and empty inside. She ran to Simon Peter and brought him back to the tomb. There, they met an angel who told them not to worry. Jesus had risen from the dead at the will of His Father. Peter remembered the words Christ spoke in Galilee, written in Matthew 17:22-23, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill Him, and on the third day He will be raised to life.” The disciples departed from the tomb knowing Jesus had risen at the will of God.
Jesus’
resurrection on Easter Sunday is the conquering of evil, sin and death. It is
the promise of eternal life with God in Heaven. Christ’s sacrifices made it
possible for us to live an eternal life dedicated to God. Let us rejoice at
this miracle today and every day as we remember the reason for this jubilant
season.
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