Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

 

Alleluia, Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed, alleluia!

 
Easter Alleluia is a joyful cry of praise and hope we offer to God.  During Lent we do not say Alleluias traditionally due to the penitential austerity of the season.  This makes the Easter Alleluia that much more meaningful and joyful.  Hidden underneath the dull and oft chaotic surface of daily life is the beauty of holiness of life ready to burst to surface and radiate for all to see.  Easter directs us to this unexpected grace of life in all its small joys and glimpses of hope so that we may rediscover the beauty and the dignity of life.  It is this unexpected grace the Apostles discovered and experienced in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  It is this unexpected grace which we, too, are called to rediscover and renew. 
 
Easter Alleluia is a joyful cry of hope against all that keep us in despair and meaninglessness in life.  St. Ambrose, the bishop of Milan in the fourth century, said that we are all God’s Alleluias.  What joy and hope it should give each of us to be called God’s Alleluia.
 
“Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord.’” (John 20:18).
 
According to John’s Gospel, Mary Magdalene was the first witness of Jesus’ resurrection.  She sobbed upon seeing the empty tomb.  Then, she saw a man who, she supposed, was a gardener.  When she recognized Jesus, her tears were changed into the tears of joy.  Her life was completely changed.  How amazing and exciting it must have been for Mary to announce that she had seen the risen Christ!
 
We are the inheritors of the mystery of this surprising grace.  We are also the witnesses to the risen Christ in our own lives, and, thus, we are to look for Christ in all people we encounter and in all things we do.  Such encounters of grace could not but change our lives.  Easter is about the conversion of life.  Easter invites us to reflect upon what changes are happening and need to happen in our own lives.  We are the people of the Resurrection.  May Easter inspire in each of you the surprising grace and blessing of conversion to new life!
 

Alleluia, Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed, alleluia!

 

 

 

Fr. Allen Shin

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