They Encountered the Impossible

Alleluia, Christ is Risen!

We have all lost someone we loved and cared about. Their absence creates an emptiness in our life that we struggle to fill. As a way of remembering them and their place in our lives, and as an expression of a love that never dies, some of us have the practice of visiting the burial places of our beloved dead. These visits are often tinged with a sadness that, though tempered, never seems to die. However, I personally also find that these visits are filled with hope.

My hope is rooted in a cemetery visit made by Mary of Magdala, Simon Peter, the beloved disciple and others on that first Easter morn. They encountered the impossible. Their beloved Jesus had been raised from the dead. With his resurrection new life dawns for all who live and die believing in him. It is this faith in the resurrection of Jesus Christ that fills me and all who believe with hope for those at whose graves we stand in prayer.

The Lord’s resurrection from the dead also gives us reason to have hope in the face of our mortality. New and eternal life awaits us.

Is there not much to celebrate this Easter? Not only has Jesus Christ risen from the dead, but he has promised new and eternal life to all who believe in him.

Fr. John P. Klein, Pastor