Easter Sunday, Cycle C
Our Lady of Grace
April 4, 2010
Finding the Living among the Living
By (Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
An Easter Friendship
Just three months ago – it was December 31st to be exact – the New York Times carried a story about two children, Orel and Marya.
Orel and Marya are both eight years old. They have been next-door neighbors for nearly a year.
Orel and Marya talk, watch television, and share their favorite foods and treats. They have become best friends.
Orel can be kind of wild and impulsive at times; Marya is smart, upbeat, and strong-willed. But, they take each other as they are.
They are both patients at Jerusalem’s Alyn Hospital. They are recovering from devastating wounds suffered in the violence of their homeland.
Orel suffered severe brain damage during a Hamas rocket attack in the Gaza. Marya’s spinal cord was severed a missile from an Israeli jet fighter mistakenly hit the car she was riding in.
What makes their friendship so special is that Orel is an Israeli Jew and Marya is a Palestinian Muslim.
These two 8-year olds do not understand the centuries of war and division between their two peoples.
Their parents and friends forgot to tell them that they are supposed to be enemies. Orel and Marya are simply dear friends.
And against all odds, their families – both from very different backgrounds and cultures and religions – also become friends. And again, against all odds, the friendship between Orel and Marya has also inspired the hospital staff, volunteers, and other patients of Jerusalem’s Alyn Hospital.
Don’t Seek the Living among the Dead
I share this story at this Easter Vigil (on this Easter morning) because it can actually guide us to faith in the Resurrection.
Let’s take a look at our Easter Gospel.
In the passage, the two men at Jesus’ tomb ask the women: “Why do you seek the living one among the dead? He is not here; he has been raised up.”
What a simple, yet profound truth this is! The idea is that it is important for us not to look for the risen Christ or for Resurrection in a place of death, that is in places or in people that have no life.
So we will not find the risen Christ in the death-like actions of hostility, vengeance, bitterness, or destruction. We will note find him in the death-like actions of selfishness, insensitivity, and apathy.
Theses are all forms of death and we simply ought not look for the risen Christ there. It’s that profound, yet that simple.
Seek the Living among the Living
On the other hands, we need to look for the risen Christ among the Orels and Maryas of our world.
We need to look at:
• Where love has endured in spite of hurt
• Where friendship has emerged in spite of prejudice
• We need to look at where compassion has won out over self-absorption
• Where good deeds are done in spite of evils that have been inflicted
• Where joy is present in spite of pain
• At the smile on the face of one who has suffered great loss
• We need to look at where flowers bloom after the death of fall and winter
• Where new life emerges in spite of, or even from, past failures and disappointments
• And, as I experienced on Good Friday taking time to say farewell to Archbishop Borders who is now in hospice and to see the joy and hope in his eyes
• And to see it in the loving care of those caring for him who are finding him such a consolation in their own life challenges
Conclusion
The insight is that the Resurrection happens in moments like these.
We can find the risen Christ in those who are truly living or in nature or animals. We can find faith in the Resurrection, if only we look and note it.
This is the heart of the Easter message and in our finding it among the living in our lives, we find our faith in the Living One renewed.
A blessed Easter to you and your loved one!
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