By Fr. Lourdu Maraiah Arlagadda crs, Somascan Superior of the Province of India
The meaning of Easter is Jesus Christ’s triumph over death. His resurrection symbolizes the eternal life that is granted to all who believe in Him. If He had not risen from the dead, if He had merely died and not been resurrected, He would have been considered just another teacher or Rabbi. However, His resurrection changed all that and gave final and indisputable proof that He was really the Son of God and that He had conquered death once and for all. Are we experiencing the power of resurrection today? “Come, see” the words recorded in saint John 4,29 spoken by a Samaritan woman with a sense of wonderment, who met Jesus at the well and said that He was the Messiah. She experienced profoundly His love and compassion even though she was living in sin. Following His resurrection Jesus met His disciples in an upper room empowered them with the Holy Spirit, which enabled them to witness for Him wherever they went.
I would like to highlight just the two ways how the Easter could be celebrated in a meaningful way:
1) To live: The celebration of Easter has to be a Christ filled experience. “It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2,20). No other words of saint Paul could describe his relationship with Christ than these words to Galatians. These are not the words of contemplative but of a missionary who alone could explain in this way ‘For me to live is Christ’ which means whole life is lived for Christ. In fact, none of the first disciples could have such an overwhelming experience like that of saint Paul, not even the first 12 disciples who were chosen by Jesus.
How this living experience of Christ can be articulated in today’s world? The way ‘to live’ is going to the periphery. We need to ask whether the poor are an element of inclusion in the church or the recipient of the service. Our pastoral action is divided into three different actions: the evangelization, the liturgy, the charity which is addressed to the society and the poor. Most of our activities are only to justify ourselves or self-justification in the church. The poor edify the church and they manifest the mystery of Christ and His grace. The gospel has to be lived passionately. Today there is no place for a lukewarm testimony, instead it is requested from us to be exploders and passionate of the gospel.
For saint Jerome Miani, the Word of God had been a living experience. He, by going often to listen to the Word of God, started to recall his ingratitude and remember his offenses against the Lord. He therefore wept often and at the feet of the Christ Crucified he prayed that He would be his savior and not his judge.
“Therefore, for Jerome Miani and his companions it used to be always an experience of Easter, which was confirmed by the choice of their vocation and service. His ardent desire to dedicate his entire life to the orphans and the poor was a tangible sign of living the gospel word by word.”
2) To go forth: The celebration of Easter has to be a dynamic experience of every Christian like that of disciples in an upper room; it is to humanize and renew oneself and the humanity around us. The dynamism of going forth is constantly recalled by Pope Francis and is an appeal that every Christian and consecrated person must feel resounding within oneself, especially in the present day context where we experience continuous sociocultural changes conditioned by uncertainty and poverty which is a globally felt. There are numerous examples in the gospels where Jesus going forth entering into the concrete stories of suffering, the people of different categories like lepers, pagans, men and women, families and disciples. This going forth has to begin begin from oneself and one of the present day challenges is the virus of individualism which leaves him isolated and unhappy. Martin Buber the famous philosopher who speaks about relationship and reciprocity. In his book ‘The Problem of Man’, he explains that man is a being who can construct his identity only through the contact with the one who has same form like you.
We also witness the similar qualities in the life of saint Jerome Miani who was a man of altruistic and humane. The orphans were always considered as the most precious than anything else. He used to manifest an intense humanness towards the children inquiring the responsible ones such as guardian, prayer leader, steward, lector, supervisor, nurse and etc., about the wellbeing of these little ones. Miani could transfigure the experience of God’s love and compassion which was nurtured in the prison and thereby becoming a person of humanizing and renewal.
The Easter celebration in 2020 is very different from other years; the deadly virus which has caused the most number of deaths and suffering of many families who lost their dear ones. Is the Lord is not telling us today that we all belong to one human family and we are His beloved children? I would like to take this occasion to wish all our Somascan lay brothers and sisters a joyful Easter. May the renewal of life of Easter bring new blessings of love, hope, peace, good health and happiness to you and your loved ones. God bless you.