Bishop Larry Silva: 2017 Easter Message

A past event ever so present

Eleven ordinary men locked themselves away after Jesus was crucified from the well-founded fear that the authorities who executed their Master could very easily go after his disciples. Yet once they left that room, they went out to all the world to proclaim the Crucified One. In fact, they were hunted down and persecuted, and all but one were martyred for the sake of the Name of Jesus. Yet the more they were persecuted, the more boldly they preached the Gospel, and it spread throughout the world like wildfire. Why would they be so foolish to do this, unless they knew that Jesus had indeed risen from the dead; unless they had been so moved by his continuing presence and love with them that nothing could stop them from telling everyone about Jesus?

We celebrate Easter not just to celebrate a past event — as marvelous as the event of resurrection from the dead is! We celebrate Easter so that the risen Jesus may continue to breathe his Spirit out upon us like a wild fire, so that we can joyfully and courageously proclaim his love to everyone. But do we lock ourselves behind closed doors, privately believing, but not daring to share our belief in Jesus with others?

We have the unique gift of being offered a physical encounter with the risen Jesus each and every Sunday — indeed each and every day! We may not be able to put our fingers in his nail marks or our hands into his side, but he is physically present to us in the Eucharist, where the “living bread come down from heaven” offers himself to us intimately as true food and true drink (See John 6). This is a marvel and a miracle as awe-inspiring as the resurrection itself! Yet there is more! Jesus draws us to himself, so that we become what we eat, and we together become the presence of the risen Lord Jesus in the world.

Yet we still lock ourselves behind the closed doors of the parish and all its wonderful programs and ministries. We believe for ourselves, but we forget what Jesus said on the night of his resurrection, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” He wants to continue to give good news to the poor, and while we are called to be good stewards in sharing our money with the poor, we are also called to set them free from poverty by being stewards who reflect on the causes of poverty and who commit ourselves to root them out. Jesus wants us to join him in proclaiming liberty to captives, and to be good stewards in this area, we need to first reflect upon how many of the prevailing notions in our culture enslave us, even when they pretend to set us free. We then need to go out and change that situation, knowing that it may bring us persecution, criticism and rejection. But with the power of the risen Christ, all things are possible.

As we celebrate Easter we recall an amazing event of the past, the resurrection from the dead of the crucified Christ. But that event is also ever present, and moves us boldly into working toward the fulfillment of the work Jesus began. It may bring us to the hardships that Jesus himself suffered, but it will surely bring us to eternal life and the fullness of joy. This is why, even with the hardships of our journey, we lift our voices and sing our hearty “Alleluia!” May that “Alleluia!” be the song that everyone hears us sing, whether with our voices or through our actions.

Happy Easter to all!