Easter Sunday 2009

Easter is the most joyful feast of the entire Church year. In fact you should feel as happy today, if not happier, than what you felt last 25 December. Actually, our lay ministers and choir made careful preparations to have a meaningful celebration with you. They tried to make a faithful dramatization of the life of Christ showing the transition from Passion and Death to the Resurrection. Thus, how you feel this Easter morning depends a lot on how you spent the Holy Week. If the Holy Week was just one big vacation, then not much has changed, and life goes on pretty much the same. In so far as we allow God to speak to us and mold us, we grow. If we really "got into" prayerful reflection on Scripture, confession, fasting and real effort to loving closeness with Jesus, then our Easter joy is going to last longer than one day. Alay-Kapwa should have been part of your Lent. I wish to narrate to you an Easter parable indirectly related to "Alay-Kapwa": ANECDOTE. There was a certain father who was in a foul mood. Since he was not able to spend the Holy Thursday and Good Friday celebrations with his family, he planned to compensate for those absences by attending the Easter Liturgy with his wife and three children. Sunday worship with his family was special for him. He believed that the family that worships together stays together. But he was the new manager of a fast-food restaurant. The owner, anticipating a large crowd, ordered him to work Easter Sunday. He had no choice. Furthermore, he needed the manager's job badly. His children required a lot of food and clothing. He swallowed his disappointment. However, the manager had to concede his employer was correct. The people looking for Easter Sunday breakfast were double the usual number. Before noon he found himself tired. From the crowds coming in the front door, he saw no relief. He felt guilty getting bad-tempered with several customers. They had grown impatient at the long wait. He sensed too that his anger arose from his envy that they were free and he was not. Some of them had their children clutching their precious Easter bunnies. The young man, who was next in line, was wearing a gold cross around his neck. He politely said to the manager, "Two orders of scrambled eggs please with a double order of bacon and sausage, whole wheat toast, two fresh orange juices, two large coffees." Then he said, "Please put each breakfast on a separate tray, but give me the check for both." The manager assembled the breakfast order for the pleasant man. He presented the trays to him. The manager gave the change to him. At that point, the fellow, dressed in workingman's clothes, said, "Please give the change and the second tray to the man behind me." Then he disappeared into the large crowd. It was the last he saw of him. The manager saw the man behind his last customer. He was dressed in old clothing, needed a shave, and was carrying what appeared to be his belongings. They were spilling over from two shopping bags. He looked exhausted. He appeared as though he would be lucky to have the few coins needed for a senior coffee. The manager gave the surprised man the second heaping tray and the change. He smiled at him. It was his first genuine smile that morning. He whispered to the beggar that his benefactor was the fellow who had just preceded him. The old man looked confused but delighted. His Easter Sunday had been made. For this beggar, the Christ had indeed risen. The good news was very good. He would have a good breakfast. He was tempted to shout ALLELUIA. The manager recalled the line someone had recently spoken to him: "I can't save the world, but I can send a poor man something to eat." The resurrected Jesus had come to that fast-food shop in the person of the young truck driver. He was driving an eighteen wheeler. He too was away from his family on Easter. The manager realized the driver had touched not only the hungry old man down on his luck but also himself. He had transformed his shop into a cathedral. The work day passed quickly after that. He mused on the aphorism that while it is not easy to become an Easter Christian, it sure is easy to start. When he got home tired that night, after passing by the Cathedral for the late 7pm Mass, his three year old embraced him and shouted, "Daddy, daddy, we saw the Easter Jesus in church." As he picked up the child, he kissed her warmly. Then he whispered to her with a large smile, "I saw Him too, Mary Grace." As he got down on his knees for his night prayers, he thanked the risen Jesus for sending both men into his shop that Easter Sunday. For a fleeting moment, he wondered whether the poor man had been the resurrected Jesus Himself. But he dismissed that notion as much too grandiose. But was it? After all, is there not a story that the thirteenth century Francis of Assisi once had been asked for a coin by a beggar? Francis was coming from Easter services. He embraced the beggar warmly, called him "my brother," and gave him several coins. As Francis left the poor man, he turned back to wave. He saw Jesus Himself standing where the beggar had stood. He waved at Francis with a smile. There was a huge bleeding wound in His hand. Well, I suspect that some of you would say: "Si Monsignor naman, gumagamit pa ng 'story-telling (a lie)' sa kanyang homily." Kung kathang-isip man, lalo't higit ang unang kwento ko tungkol sa manager ng fastfood, I am sure stories of that sort happened this week among you, my dear friends. Jesus was risen in and through you. At kung gusto talaga ninyong humabol pa ngayong araw na ito, para maging maganda talaga ang Holy Week lalo na ang Muling Pagkabuhay, let's work on the following questions: Are there bad habits we need to put to death? Are there relationships we need to mend? Are there responsibilities we should face? Are there duties we need to accomplish? Are there new horizons we need to explore? Let us all be living witnesses to Christ's Resurrection. DO NOT BE AFRAID, as the late Pope John Paul II would always say, quoting what the Resurrected Christ used to say during his post-Resurrection apparitions. Do not be afraid to love.