It was a glorious morning, as over a hundred of St. Mary’s faithful and hearty parishioners ascended the hill at Caligiuri Ranch in the darkness for what has become a popular Easter tradition – the 6AM Sunrise Mass. Crowned on its peak is a huge life-sized wooden cross overlooking the wide expanse of the Central Valley. A soft hazy midst still draping the farmfields in the distance, adding to the mystical drama of the reason why were there to celebrate.  In the still darkness, the Holy Mass begins. As we move to the Eucharist, the timing of it all is absolutely perfect. “Take this all of you… and eat of it. This is my Body giving up for you.” At the sacred words of consecration, where the risen Jesus Christ is made perfectly present, the sun begins to crest the Sierra Mountains bursting its warm rays of light (This moment is captured on the front page of our Sunday Bulletin). Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead. All creation proclaims its glory! The Resurrection changes everything. 

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ changes everything. Upon this one single doctrine of our Christian religion, the entire 2,000 year old edifice of the Catholic Church is built. If Jesus is still dead, then St. Paul is absolutely correct: “ if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, your faith also is in vain.” (Cf. 1 Corinthians 15:14). We should all go home. However, we proclaim the tomb is empty! He lives, just as our Lord promised us he would. That means we are no longer enslaved to death and sin. This Sunday, now known as Divine Mercy Sunday, we encounter the unfathomable greatness of God. There is no sin so heinous, so foul, for God to turn his face away from us.

Man is too often inclined to take his measure from the shadows he casts rather than from the light that first gave him form. Yet it is not our sinfulness that defines us, as though we were creatures born merely to fail, but rather our astonishing capacity to receive the Father’s love—a love that precedes, outlasts, and quietly overthrows every fault through the death and resurrection of our Lord. For the soul, even when bent and burdened, remains fashioned for the communion of the Eternal Love of the Trinity, not condemnation.