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After
the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene
and the other Mary came to see the tomb. And behold, there
was a
great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven,
approached, rolled back the stone, and sat upon it. His
appearance was like lightning and his clothing was white as snow.
The guards were shaken with fear of him and became like dead
men.
Then the angel said to the women in reply, "Do not be afraid!
I know that you are seeking Jesus the crucified. He
is not
here, for he has been raised just as he said. Come and see
the
place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples,
'He
has been raised from the dead, and he is going before you to Galilee;
there you will see him.' Behold, I have told you."
Then
they went away quickly from the tomb, fearful yet overjoyed, and ran to
announce this to his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them on
their way and greeted them. They approached, embraced his
feet,
and did him homage. Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be
afraid.
Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see
me."
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At
the close of the movie "The Lord of the Rings--The Two
Towers," Frodo wonders about whether he can do what he has to do,
saying to his
friend Sam, "I can't do this." Sam responds in a
marvelous
way, reminding Frodo and himself what the whole of life is all about.
He tells Frodo that it is like the great stories, the
ones
that really mattered. Those stories were full of darkness and
danger, and sometimes people did not want to know the ending. "How
could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had
happened?" he asks. But in the end, he says, darkness is only
a
passing thing. And when the sun shines, it will shine out the
clearer. Sam reminds Frodo that in those stories, people had
chances to turn back, but they refused; they kept going, because he
says, "they were holding on to something." What were they holding on
to?
Simply put,
they were holding on to the hope that things would get better, and that
indeed, the darkness would pass. Sam explains to Frodo that
they
were holding on to something "good in the world, and it's worth
fighting for." Sam believed that their lives were not in
vain.
In the movie, the victors of the Rohan war at Helm's Deep and
the
hobbits had watched the victorious Trees share the same thoughts.
They believed that the good in the world was worth fighting
for,
and were willing to even risk their lives to prove that it was true.
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Any Christian must
possess the attitude that there is good
in
the world and that it is worth fighting for because of their belief in
Jesus Christ. By his resurrection, Jesus opens for us the way to
a
new life. As it was for the early Christians who read
Matthew's
Gospel, Jesus' resurrection is the basis of our hope.
We are part of the new life right now. There is every reason to be hopeful. Of course, there is darkness, there is evil; we see it, sense it, experience it, suffer because of it, but the sun exists as well. We can say with the prisoner of Dachau: "We believe in the sun even when it isn't shining." The darkness will pass. We have Jesus' word and example. There is good in the world. We can hold on, and keep on going! |
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| THOUGHT Generally
speaking, do you believe that the people of our world are hopeful?
Yes or no and why?
PRAYER Good
and gracious
God, your Son
rose from the dead and thus confirmed everything that he taught to us.
May his resurrection generate the strong hope in us that good
will truly overcome any evil in our lives. Be with us, we
pray.
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©2007
Capuchin Province of Mid-America
Fr. Mike Scully is a member of the Capuchin Province of Mid-America |
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