Dear Brothers and Sisters: 

At the Easter Vigil we heard of a theatrical God who fashions a world out of a formless void; we listened about a God who rescues His people from an army that pursues them; we recounted the story of a God who gives us bread, wine, and milk without us paying for any of it; and we proclaimed a God who gives all of himself to a world He loves, even to the point of death, only then not to remain captive to a grave but to rise in all God’s glory. Let’s face it, Holy Saturday night was an evening of fast-paced drama, narrow escapes, harrowing passages, miraculous feedings, and spectacular rescues—stories chock full of swirling waters, earthquakes, and surprise appearances. 

And yet the story of Easter conveys another truth as well. The Jewish day begins at nightfall, and so we began the Easter Vigil as the sun set and a hush settled on our neighborhoods. That evening there was a small procession, but no Easter parade; the Easter candle was brought into the church, but there was no grand display of fireworks; we shouted “alleluia,” but not at the same decibel level as the cheers of the March Madness basketball crowds in New Orleans. Perhaps this relatively understated arrival of Easter is fitting. 

After all, Jesus’ resurrection takes place in the still of night. When the women arrive at the tomb at dawn, the stone has been rolled away and the body is gone. The resurrection has already happened—silently, without fanfare and without audience. In her book Learning to Walk in the Dark, Barbara Brown Taylor writes:

For many years as I have been listening to Easter sermons, I have never heard anyone talk about that part. Resurrection is always announced with Easter lilies, the sounds of trumpets, bright streaming light. But it did not happen that way. It happened in a cave, it happened in complete silence, in absolute darkness, with the smell of damp stone and dug earth in the air. … New life starts in the dark. Whether it is a seed in the ground, a baby in the womb, or Jesus in the tomb, it starts in the dark. 

Resurrection isn’t always accompanied by bright lights and party music. It usually happens in the most ordinary moments, often slipping in quietly. We find resurrection in the forgiveness of a family member, when an immigrant woman puts on glasses and for the first time can see an object on the floor, when someone who has lost a loved one during the past year can finally move on with a funeral and the burial of their loved one, in the smile of a person who has experienced a stifling depression. Resurrection happens in the here and now, in this moment we are in. It may not be a sudden theatrical event like those we read about at the Easter Vigil. But just as the Grand Canyon was formed by the Colorado River over four million years, these smaller resurrection experiences shape our lives over time in very powerful, salvific ways. Experiencing resurrection is a process more than an event.

In 2014 when the parish of St. Clement put on Jesus Christ Superstar, we went out of our way to promote it. In a discussion with a local Christian radio station, they said they would not promote the play since it omitted the resurrection of Jesus Christ. With respect to Andrew Lloyd Weber, we told the radio station we had added a resurrection scene. After the crucifixion we had the character of Mary Magdalene sing a song written by Natalie Grant entitled “Alive”. As she sang, the Christ character came back into the Church dressed all in white followed by the cast paying homage to the Risen Lord. The refrain of the song goes as follows: Alive! Alive! Look what Mercy’s overcome; Death has lost, and Love has won Alive! Alive!  Hallelujah, Risen Lord, the only One I fall before I am His because He is alive.  Every time I hear that song and remember that experience it is another resurrection moment for me and I am saved and alive.

In some evangelical religions, people talked about when they were saved. We Christians were saved two thousand years ago when Jesus lived and died and rose again. We were saved in the waters of our own Baptism; like so many people who at Easter Vigils throughout the world received the Sacraments of Initiation, we are saved every time we receive our Risen Lord in communion; we are saved in the smile and laughter of family and friends; and we are saved every time the sun shines brightly after a rain. The list could cover a hundred pages, back and front.

During this Easter Season, don’t let the many resurrections of your life pass by unnoticed while you’re waiting for that one dramatic event that lands you on the front page of some religious newspaper and upends your whole life’s routine. Do not be amazed! God’s saving love never sleeps; resurrection is at work in our lives every second of every day, if only we have the eyes to see it. 

In the Spirit of the Redeemer, 

Paul J. Borowski, C.Ss.R.