Daily Gospel Reflection for April 20, 2019

Today's Gospel: Luke 24:1-12 - At the Easter Vigil in the Holy Night of Easter On Easter Vigil five years ago, nearly five years to the day, I was baptized and confirmed, received fully into the Catholic Church. The Triduum has been my favorite part of the liturgical year ever since. The mysteries of the Faith are more palpable. The veil dividing this world from the next, the dead from the living, is paper-thin. On the surface, the Triduum is about death. It is somber. Holy Saturday is a eerily still day. But the beautiful paradox of the Faith is that death isn’t final. Death doesn’t have the last word. We sit with one foot left in the mourning of Good Friday and one foot eagerly stretching itself toward the hope and promise of Easter. We who are called Christians can rejoice in death because our Lord has conquered it. I have always been drawn to somber and sad things. I used to think it odd, but the more I grow in my faith the more I see that this draw on my heart is from God. “Why do you seek the living one among the dead?” Christ’s victory over death has saved us from the bonds of death. It holds no power over us who live in Him. Each Easter Vigil I am reminded of my own death to this world. And each Easter Vigil seems to be more beautiful than the last.

Ponder:

Does Easter Vigil remind you that there is beauty in the solemn?

Pray:

O God, we are ever thankful for the gift You have given us in the sacrifice of Your Son, Who conquered death for us and makes it possible for us to have eternal life.