Each year the Office of Campus Ministry at Carlow University creates a Lenten reflection journal comprised of reflections on the daily scriptural readings by students, staff, faculty, and alumni. This year I was invited to provide the reflection on the readings for Easter Sunday. Here is what I wrote for this year's journal:
These Easter Sunday readings (Acts 10:34a, 37-43; Ps 118:1-2, 16-17, 22-23; Col 3:1-4; Mt 28:1-10) remind us that the resurrection changed everything. To the early followers of Jesus, God’s raising Jesus from the dead was not just a one-time miracle; it signaled that the long-awaited renewal of all things had begun. The promises of the prophets were in the process of being fulfilled. As they reflected together on the significance of this event they became convinced that all who followed this risen Savior could live into the mystery of the resurrection even as they wrestled with the painful realities of life in this world and still awaited the ultimate renewal to come. Remarkably, today’s readings remind us that followers of the risen Jesus are to consider themselves as already “raised with Christ” (Col 3:1). This new view of our lives calls forth a heavenly perspective in which all are invited to live now as citizens of the new age; to go “all in” on God’s priorities for this world, and to live accordingly. The command to “Think of what is above, not of what is on earth” (Col 3:2) is thus not a call to ignore this world, but rather to live in this world in light of the ultimate reality of the resurrection. This same idea has inspired Carlow’s motto: Ad superna non superba. Easter reminds us that we can live our lives in the present as renewed people awaiting and participating in the renewal of all things.
