Easter Joy.

There is an ancient Irish tradition that the sun dances on Easter Morning. So well it might! The One who put it in the sky is risen, the human race is redeemed, the gates of heaven are open again, the Risen One will never again die and those who belong to him will live forever.

The first Easter Sunday as described by John is animated and quick-moving. Everyone seems to be in haste on the morning of the day that the Lord has made. Mary went "in haste" to the tomb with spices to anoint the body. She finds it empty and frightened she rushes back to tell Peter and John. They rush to the tomb and finding it empty they enter and find the cloths with which the body had been bound neatly arranged. St. John in his account tells us that they saw two angels who told them that Jesus was risen and that he appeared to Mary Magdalene. He was later to appear to all the Apostles who then remembered that He had foretold that He would rise.

In today's first reading Peter preaches with conviction about the importance of that event, and how basic it is to our faith in Jesus. "God raised Him on the third day and made Him manifest to us who were chosen by God as witnesses ... who ate and drank with Him after He rose from the dead. (Acts 10:40-41)

Today's Mass readings invite us to make a radical change in our lives. St. Paul tells us that if we have been raised to life with Christ we must seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father, not the passing things of earth. After all the uncertainties of this earth we are called to set our hearts on eternal realities, the only sure ones.

Today's feast gives a whole new focus on what is really important in life and in death and what is merely of passing interest. The change in the lives of the Apostles and other believers says it all.

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From Nelson Mandela's Inaugural, 1994

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that others won't feel insecure around you.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.