April 14, 2013   

The pinnacle of the entire liturgical year is the Easter celebration. This celebration lasts for 50 days! One of the opening prayers to be used for the Sundays of Easter reads, “As we celebrate Christ’s resurrection increase our awareness of these blessings, and renew your gift of life with in.” For those of us who live here in the Red Rock area, we have a constant reminder of God’s gift of love. Each time we travel from one location to another in Sedona, we are surrounded with the physical majesty and glory of God through the beauty of the area. For the next several weeks of Easter, we baptized followers of Jesus are called to continue reflecting on this majesty and glory; but most of all, we celebrate the unconditional love of our God. The spiritual journey we took more seriously by our Lenten practices and observances was to lead us more deeply toward and to make us more acutely aware of how gifted and loved we are. The fifty days of Easter asks us to ponder even more consciously our human experiences of death, but more importantly RESURRECTION in our lives. We experience failures, but also successes. We experience pain, but also joy. There is death in our lives, but also experiences of NEW LIFE. Easter, the Christian Passover calls us to remember and celebrate the wonderful journey to freedom that our Lord’s Paschal Mystery won for the baptized. It is through our baptism that we journey from death to EVERLASTING LIFE. Becoming children of God through baptism doesn’t negate pain or struggle. We are not guaranteed protection from suffering. Difficulties in the world are not avoidable. Following the story of the empty tomb proclaimed on Easter Day, we are reminded of the little band of followers hiding themselves out of fear behind locked doors. Gathering for the Easter Triduum or Easter morning at Saint John Vianney amid all the Easter lilies and the gold decorations with an enthusiastic family of faith, doesn’t mean we don’t go back into a world of frustration and doubt. Just like Thomas in last week’s gospel, we too can fall prey to confusion, despair and doubt. On our bad days, we are prone to want to run away. There are times we want to escape from the trials and problems of this life. The church gives us fifty days of joyous celebration to help us focus on the truth of our own resurrection made possible by the RESURRECTION of our Lord Jesus Christ!  We continue our journey of faith, believing when it is hard to see or even touch the beauty of the promise of salvation that is ours. We know in the depths of our hearts that Jesus Christ is our Lord and God, and that everlasting life is our promise. When our own strength and courage fails us, the Holy Spirit given us at baptism impels us to continue the journey of building the kingdom, proclaiming the hope and joy of the resurrection, and announcing the Good News: He is risen, alleluia — He is truly risen, Alleluia, Alleluia.