A Reflection for Eastertide 

Our Easter celebrations form the very heart of our Christian living. Our faith is deeply rooted and finds its true meaning in the resurrection of Jesus. St Paul says that, if Christ is not risen, then all our believing is in vain.

Those Christians who depict the cross without the body of Christ on it are making a very important point. The cross was the high point of Jesus’ gift of himself to the father for our sakes, but he is no longer there, and it was his entry into glory with the Father which gives the Cross its meaning and which gives meaning indeed to all of our sufferings. 

Because of the resurrection, the disciples, and followers of Jesus, who were at first paralysed with fear of being arrested as accomplices of Jesus, suddenly made a complete turnaround and began boldly to proclaim that Jesus, who died on the Cross, was alive and with them. And when, in fact, they were arrested, persecuted and imprisoned, it became a cause of rejoicing that they were now even more closely related to the life experience of their Lord, sharing in his sufferings that they might share in his glory.

The celebration of Easter each year reminds us that we have the same mission as Peter and Mary Magdalen and the other disciples of Jesus. As Saint Peter emphasises in one of his letters, the importance of Jesus’ disciples not only experiencing the joy of their Risen Master and Lord but also of sharing that experience and joy with as many people as possible. It is something we must do also. Not to share our Easter joy and what it means to us is to leave Easter only half celebrated. For the true Christian, in fact, every day is an Easter Day lived joyfully in the close company of the Risen Lord. There we have our mission!