A Message for Easter

St. Mary Magdalene, the first to encounter the Risen Lord, is called “the apostle to the apostles” since she was the first to proclaim the resurrection of the Lord from the dead. Traditional Christian art and iconography portrays her in many ways, but it is not uncommon to see her depicted with a small egg in her hand. The egg is a symbol new life and is used as an image of the Lord’s resurrection. On that morning when Mary and her companions went to the tomb and discovered it empty, Mary’s desperate search for Jesus began. In her seeking, she found Him, or better said, she was found by Him, when the Risen Lord Himself stood before her and spoke her name…

Some historians suggest that Mary’s “egg”, the sign of the resurrection, and her desperate search for the body of Jesus, gave rise to a familiar Easter tradition, the Easter egg hunt. As we know, finding the chocolate egg is the goal of the hunt. But what we may have forgotten is this: the Easter egg hunt is also a metaphor for our search for life’s goal and meaning. Only when we find life’s true “sweetness”, its purpose and direction, do we find life itself.

The problem, however, is we sometimes forget to go looking for it. We can lose sight of the big picture which may be why our faith often lacks enthusiasm and joy. There can be no joy in a half-hearted faith, one we keep on the margins of our lives because it is removed from its true center: encounter and communion with the person of Jesus Christ. The joy of faith is found in this.

Encounter and communion give us the sure hope that there is something, Someone, beyond ourselves. They assure us that God has spoken the final word and that He, not death, claims us as His own.

My prayer for you and yours is that you undertake the search for life’s sweetness this Easter, just as Mary Magdalene did that first Easter morning. That you look for the Lord who is life’s origin and goal, and who offers us both encounter and communion with Himself so that we learn that life, not death, claims us!

Love has crucified and is risen triumphant from death so that we may know our worth and be irrevocably His own! Happy Easter!