In March, one of our long time parishioners at Lourdes, Tom Dosdall, passed away. Tom was a wonderful man who was bright and kind and a person of light. He will be missed! In his selection of funeral music, readings and even a poem by the Englishman John Donne, Tom wanted the focus to be on the reality that death does not end in itself but onto new life. As he prepared for his own death, Tom was heartened by the promise of Christ that those who believe will be raised with Christ. This truth gave Tom a steady hope that was consoling to him in the midst of his journey to the Lord and was indeed consoling to his family and friends upon his death. In talking with Tom prior to his death, I was surprised and moved by the fact that he had memorized the words of the preface to the Eucharistic Prayer for a Christian Funeral: “In him, who rose from the dead, our hope of resurrection dawned. The sadness of death gives way to the bright promise of immortality.” For Tom, the resurrection of Christ was real and it’s promise of new life, sure.
When Christians gather each year to celebrate Easter, we gather as a people of hope who believe in a God who keeps his promises. As St. John Paul II taught us, “we are an Easter people and Alleluia is our song.” For Christians, the resurrection of Christ is not an abstraction or a theory, but rather a deep truth of our faith that gives meaning to our lives, purpose to our journey, and hope in the midst of trial and suffering. During Lent and Holy Week, Christians are invited into the paschal mystery of Christ: his life, his passion, his death and his resurrection. In following Christ, there is a real, but subtle path laid before us: we are to suffer with Christ and to journey to the cross knowing that we do not remain there. Like Mary Magdalene, John and Peter, you and I, as disciples, are witnesses to the resurrection and bask in the light of our resurrected Lord. The resurrection of Christ had power for the early Church because they knew this extraordinary event was true. In a variety of ways, the disciples communed with the risen Lord. So too for us, the resurrection has power in our lives because of its truth and its inherent promise of new life. We see and believe in and experience a God who raises us up daily and, who we know, will raise our fallen world.
Shortly after my mom died six years ago, I remember vividly a conversation I had with Fr. Reggie Whitt, my colleague from the St. Thomas School of Law. I was heading to Wisconsin for mom’s funeral when I encountered Reggie on the stairs of the law school. He shared with me wisdom from his own experience of burying his mother. He said the most real the resurrection of Christ will ever be is when someone close to you dies. Indeed he was right, and I again recalled his words recently when a dear friend of mine died unexpectedly shortly before Easter. I was deeply saddened by the passing of my friend, in part, because of what a warm and loving friend he was. The two things that gave me consolation amidst my grief was the warmth of my memories of him and the fact that his death does not end onto itself but onto new life. The truth of Easter gives me a sure hope that I will meet my friend again in the glory of the risen one.
During the season of Lent, parishioners were invited to read Fr. Ronald Rolheiser’s book: “The Passion and the Cross.” The book provides a new and thoughtful reflection on the meaning of the passion and the cross of Christ. According to Fr. Rolheiser, the cross of Jesus Christ is both the deepest revelation of God and the instrument of our salvation. It is noteworthy that Fr. Rolheiser’s book does not end with a focus on the cross, but ends with the resurrection of Christ. Rolheiser’s book conveys that the meaning of the resurrection includes the truth that all graves open up and Fr. Rolheiser’s invites Christians to leave their empty tombs behind. Near the end of his book, Fr. Rolheiser offers inspiring words regarding the connection of the resurrection of Christ to our lives of faith: “to believe in the resurrection of of Jesus is to be comforted, comforted at a level so deep that nothing in life is ultimately a threat any longer. In the resurrection, the hand of God soothes us and the voice of God assures us, frightened children that we are, that all is good and that all will remain good for ever and ever.”
2,000 years ago and today, the truth of the resurrection of Christ provides believers with meaning and hope and invites us to celebrate Easter with great joy as the sadness of death gives way to the bright promise of immortality.