Some years ago, while walking around our seminary basketball court, I saw something that made me stop. I saw a sprout growing on the cement pavement. It was a rotting mango fruit, from which a shoot and three leaves were growing. Wow! It survived. It was impossible, but it was alive!
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Happy Easter, everyone! From a seemingly hopeless and dead-end situation, Jesus rose from the tomb, fulfilling His promise to His disciples that He will live again, and accomplishing His mission to gain for us eternal life. Mission accomplished!
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How Jesus ended His earthly life was painful and ugly. But something good still came out from a hopeless and rotten situation. From death and decay came forth new life and hope. Today, whatever difficult situation we are going through, let us not lose hope, let us not give up, and let us believe that God does and will make a way.
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Congratulations to all who passed the Bar exam this year. With lots of hard work and prayers, they made it. Don’t forget our final exam in heaven at the end of our lives. We have a “leakage” as to what question will be asked of us, and that is: Did we fill the world with love while we were still alive? With prayers, hard work, and by God’s grace, we, too, hopefully will make it to the final graduation in heaven.
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In today’s Gospel (John 20, 1-9), the disciples were confused and afraid “for they did not yet understand the scripture that he had to rise from the dead.” It was a tremendous test of faith for them on that first Easter morning, torn between believing and not believing. It was already morning, but it was still dark for them.
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We all have “already-but-not-yet” moments, where we are already there, but we have not yet arrived, like the Battle of Midway that turned the tide of war in the Pacific during World War II. The war was already won, but many battles still had to be fought. We, too, have been saved by our Lord’s passion, death, and resurrection, but we still have battles to fight and obstacles to overcome in our journey to God’s heart.
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“Be strong, and let your heart have courage” (Ps. 31,24). We all still have battles to fight inside and outside us; decisions to make, and issues to face, so we pray for wisdom and strength. Let us not be discouraged or dismayed by results, nor be silenced by fear or favors. May we have the Easter mindset within us that gives us that peace and assurance, which this world cannot give nor take away. Let us become Easter persons!
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We pray for a new Easter in our land. May the darkness of sin and corruption give way to the dawning of a new day in the coming May 9 elections. Let us all work for clean, peaceful, and honest elections, and pray to the Lord to prevent the agents and operators of the evil one from sowing deceit, violence, fear, and intimidation on our people. Impossible? Nothing is impossible for God! He raised Jesus from the dead, didn’t He?
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Sharing with you this prayer I read somewhere: “Dear God, I know that I am not perfect. I know sometimes I forget to pray. I have questioned my faith, I know sometimes I lose my temper, but thank you for loving me unconditionally, and for giving me another day to start over again.” Hope. Fresh start. New beginnings. Moving on. That’s what Easter is all about. Happy Easter! Let us be heralds and witnesses of Easter wherever we are.
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A moment with Lord:
Lord, help us to become Easter persons. Amen.