He Lives! While it was Still Dark . . .

Easter always begins in the dark, the way it has always been from the very first one, when in the black night of despair, bleakness and grief, some who loved Him went to His resting place. Easter began when the truth they realized and eventually believed, of why He was not there, washed over them.

Easter begins for us always in so many dark places. When we are crushed by disappointment, blinded by sin, keeping vigil in the middle of the night with a dying loved one, or lying awake in fear of what the next day will bring, Easter materializes. The darkness of loss and devastating sadness becomes the path to where God first breathed you into life. The winter hardships of our hurts, losses, and misfortunes become the seeds of an Easter of fresh starts, new chances, and restored aspirations. 

When we are bowed down under the weight and guilt of our failings, mercy and grace beyond us illumine our way to the radiant beams of divine healing, wholeness, and love. When we are diminished, lessened and even broken by what life has thrown at us, reduced to the rubble of unrealized promise and unexpected blows, the Risen One appears in saintly family and friends, loved ones and companions to lift and recreate us. 

He is not found anywhere in this existence but in us, when we seek Him within, and search for Him in others. Then He is visible in our world. It is not accidental that Easter is celebrated when the light of our planet is arcing toward its brightest moment. The lumen Christi, the light of Christ, comes, saves, restores, blesses, and remains forever. 

The Church proclaims Easter not as a day, or a liturgy, or a season, but as the divine pivotal event that shapes all other human events, our way of being and living, embodying the spirit of the Risen Christ in all his own. 

As sure as the sun will rise today and tomorrow and every day after, so will Christ alive bring light, truth, and goodness to conquer the dark and recreate our world in the endless morning of His love.