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The Stone Rolled Away and the World Made New
Where We Are
Alleluia! Christ is risen! Today is Easter Sunday, the greatest feast of the liturgical year, the day that gives meaning to every other day. The forty days of Lent are behind us. The cross of Good Friday has accomplished its work. The empty tomb proclaims what no heart dared hope: death has been defeated. The readings shift dramatically; we hear from the Acts of the Apostles, because the Resurrection creates a new people and a new mission. Peter preaches boldly. Paul calls us to "seek the things that are above." And John takes us to the garden tomb in the early morning darkness, where Mary Magdalene discovers the stone has been rolled away.
The Word
Peter's sermon in Acts captures the essence of Easter faith: God raised Jesus on the third day and granted that he be made visible, not to all the people, but to chosen witnesses. "We ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead," Peter declares. This is an eyewitness claim. Paul writes to the Colossians: "If you have risen together with Christ, seek the things that are above." The Resurrection reshapes how we live. John's Easter Gospel unfolds in pre-dawn darkness. Mary Magdalene finds the tomb empty and runs to tell Peter and the beloved disciple. They race to the tomb. The beloved disciple arrives first but waits. Peter enters and sees the burial cloths folded and set aside. Then the beloved disciple enters, and "he saw and believed."
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Reflect
There is something profoundly human about the way the Resurrection is discovered. No one witnesses the moment itself. There are no cameras in the tomb, no audience for the greatest event in history. Instead, there is a woman weeping in a garden at dawn, and an empty space where a body should have been.
John's account is full of running. Mary Magdalene runs to the disciples. Peter and the beloved disciple run to the tomb. The urgency tells us something: the Resurrection is not a doctrine to be pondered at leisure; it is news so extraordinary that it demands movement, response, a complete reorientation of life.
Notice the detail about the burial cloths. They are not tossed aside in haste; they are lying there, folded. This is not a robbery. This is not chaos. This is something entirely new, done with the calm deliberation of a God who has all the time in the world, because he has just conquered time itself.
Peter's sermon in Acts reminds us that the Resurrection is not a private spiritual experience. It happened in history, to a real body, and was witnessed by real people who ate and drank with the Risen Jesus. Christianity stands or falls on this claim. Paul understood the implications: "If you have risen together with Christ, seek the things that are above." The Resurrection does not simply promise us a future hope; it transforms the present. We are not people waiting to be saved; we are people who have been raised to a new kind of life right now.
Alleluia! The word returns to our lips after forty days of silence. Let it ring.
Living It
Today, say "Alleluia" out loud, and mean it. After forty days without this word, let it return with the full weight of Easter joy. Greet someone with the ancient Easter exchange: "Christ is risen!" and receive the response: "He is risen indeed!" Look for signs of resurrection in your own life: a relationship that has been healed, a hope that refused to die, a new beginning you did not expect. If you have been carrying a burden through Lent, set it down today. The tomb is empty. Death has been defeated. Celebrate with your family or community; Easter is a feast meant to be shared, not observed alone.
Prayer
Risen Lord, Alleluia! You have burst the bonds of death and opened the gates of everlasting life. We who walked through the darkness of Lent and stood at the foot of your cross now stand at the empty tomb, breathless with joy. The stone is rolled away. You are risen, just as you said. Fill us with Easter faith that makes us run to tell others. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Amen.
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