The Nazareth Page - A gospel meditation for your home
April 20, 2025 – Easter Sunday, John 20:1-9
REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
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I used to think of Christmas as the most important day of the year. Then I learned that the Catholic Church said that Easter was more important. This made no sense to me. On Christmas I received lots of presents. On Easter I merely got a basket of candy and colored eggs.
Now it is decades later. I have spent years and years trying to achieve a greater understanding of the Christian faith and I can now announce that for me Easter has moved ahead of Christmas on my list as the most important holiday and holy day. And somewhat ironically my reversal of number ones still has to do with gifts. Not gifts like Christmas presents and Easter baskets, but something much more precious and certainly more lasting. I am referring to the gift of life that is given to each of us by God.
None of us are the cause of our existence. For reasons that are not clear, but nevertheless very real, you and I were initially given life because God desired to create each of us, to love us and share with us the greatest of all gifts, existence forever.
And this became more apparent the first Easter when Jesus, as fully human (and much more!), after he experienced death, remained alive and eventually informed those close to him that they too would continue to be gifted with life, even after they died here on Earth. On Easter each year we are invited to think again about our Creator God as the God of life, of our lives that will not end with our earthly life but will continue with God and with all those who have gone before us. That is quite a wondrous gift. This is why Easter is now my number one feast.
I keep a list of all those I knew and loved who have already died. It now contains close to a hundred names. On each Easter I revisit my list making sure I have included all those I want to remember. As I move into my later years, I imagine meeting all of them soon. Of course, I can’t imagine details of what they will be like. But I can wait. All I really need is the conviction that this moment will happen.
As a lifelong Catholic, I grew up with many images of what heaven is like. Now I have none. It’s like a blank page. But that uncertainty about details does not diminish my faith and hope. In fact, it makes it all that much more realistic. Easter faith is about hope for more. Is celebrates the great feast of life that will not end.
David M. Thomas, PhD