Happy Easter, everyone! Two years ago, when flying out for a retreat, the Holy Spirit put something on my heart which became the starting point for my prayer: I came to accept that I’m very judgmental. It was a grace to realize that something was wrong in my heart. After the retreat, one resolution was to choose hope every morning. For over a year, I would check off in my planner every day I chose to live in hope.
Why do being judgmental and having hope go together for me? Because when I don’t have hope, I see mainly the negative. When someone in the Church hurts me or the Church’s mission, I start to resent what they’ve done; it eats me up inside. Now, I never want to lose the sense of right and wrong, but hope gives context to what I’m experiencing—how? First, Jesus is in charge; He’s working in my heart and everyone’s heart; Second, hope reminds me of my own sins, and that contextualizes the sins I see from other people; third, hope allows me to address these situations with wisdom and love.
Our Easter theme tonight is hope. The Gospel shows a slow movement from disappointment and loss to the beginnings of hope: “On the first day of the week, at early dawn, the women who had accompanied Jesus from Galilee came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body” (Lk 24:1-3). The women had faith in Jesus and love for Him, but little hope; for them, Jesus was still dead. Pope Francis declared this year to be the Year of Hope; I couldn’t find any explicit reason for this so I suppose he’s aware that many people live in despair and doubt. I myself never realized until a few years ago that my hope is weak.
“While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, ‘Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen’” (24:4-5). These two men (angels) are trying to reorient the women’s hearts: Your thoughts are on death, you’re stuck in the past without an awareness of Jesus in the present; you should be looking for Him right now because He’s risen and alive.
“‘Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.’ Then they remembered his words” (24:6-8). We sometimes have a selective memory of Jesus’ teachings (Daniel Mueggenborg, Come Follow Me, Year C, 62): We tend to remember His agreeable teachings. So here, the women are reminded that it was part of the Father’s plan that Jesus die voluntarily for our sins. That means the suffering that God allows in our lives is not an accident. God uses it so that we define ourselves and increase love in the world, just as Jesus proved through the Cross that He perfectly loves humanity.
Now, the women didn’t understand these truths immediately, but it was the beginning of hope. 50 days later, after receiving the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, their hearts would be completely changed and full of hope. Even though the early Christians were persecuted, they never complained. They knew that, because of Jesus’ Resurrection, sin, death, and the devil were defeated. Jesus had won!
I once heard an analogy that made sense to me about the spiritual battles in our lives. Jesus’ Death and Resurrection are like D-Day, June 6, 1944, during World War II. Up to this point, the war could have gone either way, but once the Allied troops landed in Normandy and established a beachhead, it was over for the Nazis; they never recovered. The Allies were then able to land more and more troops. However, there would still be 11 months of fierce battle. The Nazis knew they couldn’t win, but kept on fighting.
In the same way, once Jesus redeemed us by His Death, Resurrection, and Ascension, it was over for the devil. But there is still fierce fighting in our lives until he’s definitively defeated. 25 years after Jesus rose, St. Paul wrote to Christians in Rome, “The God of peace will shortly crush Satan under your feet” (Rom 16:20). St. Paul suffered so much during his life, and his world was worse than ours, but he had more hope because he knew the outcome.
The example that has impacted me most is that of St. John Paul II. In his biographical books, he mentions the outbreak of WWII, the rounding up of professors, the German occupation, the executions, etc., but he’s never focused on the evils they did. He spends more time writing about the blessings God gave him through other people, like a tailor named Jan Tyranowski, who took over to form the youth because priests were exiled, and taught John Paul about the interior life. That really struck me: his memory always focuses on the good. Years later, someone asked him about why we should have no fear of evil. He said, “The power of Christ’s Cross and Resurrection is greater than any evil which man could or should fear” (Crossing the Threshold of Hope, 218-219).
So, how would we act knowing that everything in our lives will work out according to Jesus’ plan? As we follow Him and with His grace, we fight against temptations in our hearts such as resentment and frustration.
Is anyone here a fan of the Hunger Games movies? Do you remember that part in Catching Fire when the protagonist, Katniss, is in the jungle arena and aiming her bow and arrow at one of her teammates, because she thinks he’s betrayed her? But he says to her, ‘Remember who the real enemy is.’ Meanwhile, President Snow, who’s like Satan and has been manipulating her, is watching her on video, and whispers, ‘Let it fly.’ Because, if she does, she’ll no longer be killing in self-defense, she’ll be killing in unjust anger.
The scene is symbolic of how we forget that the real enemy in our lives is the devil, not the people around us, not the people in our family, in our parish, or politicians in Canada or the United States. Remember who the real enemy is.
Tomorrow, in the First Reading, St. Peter says: “You know the message… how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit… how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil… God raised him on the third day and… he commanded us to preach to the people… Everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name” (Acts 10:36,38,40,42-43). The message is that Jesus has overcome the devil, but we still have to fight against him when he tempts us to sin. And when we have greater faith in Jesus, hope in Him, and love for Him, then we win.
When we see the victory celebrations of World War II (church bells tolling, people gathering in the streets), we get a small sense of what Jesus’ victory will be like at the end times. For me, I’m more peaceful, loving, patient, and my stress is down!
The philosopher Carl Trueman once observed that his friend was pessimistic. The friend responded, ‘I am neither pessimistic nor optimistic, but I am hopeful.’ Pessimism forgets that Jesus said hell will not prevail against the Church (Cf. Mt 16:18); optimism thinks everything will be fine if we just sit tight and wait. But “Christian hope… is realistic… This world is a vale of tears… This world is not the Christian’s home, and so we should not expect it to provide us with home comforts” (Dr. Carl Trueman, Strangers in This Strange New World, 185-186). Battles will go on. But Jesus has won the war. So we’re grateful to Him for our life, the country in which we live, and what He’s given us, especially faith, hope, love, and eternal life. All our struggles find their meaning in the life, Death, and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Happy Easter, everyone!