Easter Sunday 2025
Preaching by Sister Lorraine Réaume, OP

Sunday, April 20, 2025

Happy Easter! It might not feel as happy this year since the majority of our sisters has been in quarantine and so many have been ill. Yet it is still true – Christ is risen. We can say Alleluia!

Even as some are still in isolation watching this liturgy from their rooms, even as those off campus cannot join us in person, even as our country and world are struggling profoundly, we can affirm the promise of life for all in the passion, death, and resurrection of Christ.

As I sat down to put words to this preaching, I recalled another season and another story – The Grinch, by Dr. Seuss. Most of you know the tale – The Grinch lives by himself with his longsuffering dog, far up a mountain. He’s a grumpy sort, hence the name – Grinch. He especially hates the joy of the Who people down in Whoville at Christmas as they sing and celebrate, and he mistakenly thinks their joy comes from their material gifts and decorations. But even though he tries to destroy their joy by stealing everything, he hears them singing and realizes:

He HADN'T stopped Christmas from coming! IT CAME!
Somehow or other, it came just the same!

And the Grinch has a conversion!

We try to celebrate Easter with great joy – coming together in our faith communities, having beautiful music and liturgies, spring flowers, enjoying a special meal with community members or family.

Yet, even when those important elements are taken away – be it by norovirus, family conflict, political divisions, grief – it is still true that we can celebrate the resurrection of Christ 2,000 years ago and seek signs of resurrection, of life, and of hope, all around us.

These things haven't stopped Easter from coming! It came!
Somehow or other, it came just the same!

Indeed, as people of faith we are to hunt for hope and bear witness to others around us.

We know that first Easter was a hard one for Jesus’s friends and followers. Even though Jesus prepared them, they just weren’t ready for his terrible death. They were forlorn, confused, and tired. Some felt guilty about how they had not been there when he most needed it. They were living under an oppressive regime that some thought he would help overthrow. It was a time of great discouragement.

Yet, he had still risen. And bit by bit they came to understand and even encounter him.

In the Gospel, John realizes something special has happened when he sees the head cloth rolled up and set aside. He doesn’t fully understand, but he’s starting to believe and hope.

Mary Magdalene, the faithful friend of Jesus, has come to the tomb to mourn. She doesn’t leave. She waits, but she is made temporarily blind and deaf by her grief. She’s so distraught she doesn’t even seem to be amazed that angels are speaking to her. She hears Jesus speaking to her and sees him, but assumes he is the gardener. She sees no signs of life, of resurrection.

But then she hears her name – Mariam, Mary. As Scripture says, “the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.” Jesus says, “I know my own and my own know me.“ On hearing Christ speak her name, Mary wakes up from her grief. She has already physically turned toward Jesus, but now she has an inner turning – she realizes Christ is present, is still with us. Everything changes. At that moment she learns to stop expecting Jesus to be as he was and realizes he is present in a new way, and she is sent to announce this good news! She accepts her mission to be the first witness and first preacher of the resurrection!

What about us? Are there ways we are blocked from seeing life and hope?

I know that as I watch the news or scroll through my social media, I can get very discouraged about what is happening in our world. I imagine those in isolation may be getting frustrated. People are worried about their finances in this climate. We carry a lot of anxiety.

All that is real – AND, at the same time, there is another reality that is also present and holds us all: a God who began, sustains, and holds all creation; Jesus Christ who came to Earth to share our experience with us and made us divine siblings, and siblings to all beings and creatures; God’s promise of ultimate meaning and life calling to us from the future.

How do we witness to that reality?

We turn, we listen for the Divine One’s voice calling to us, we open our eyes to see signs of hope and resurrection – co-workers doing double shifts to feed and care for us, family members who continue loving in challenging relationships, a sister who tries to bring joy to those around her, those among us who express gratitude, the many people working for justice and truth in this nation (including us), those generous people who give their lives in service in areas of war and great tragedies…there are so, so many signs of life, hope, and resurrection.

Remember, the resurrection was unexpected and unfathomable. Some of the signs of resurrection we encounter will also be where and how we least expect. We’re called to great attentiveness.

Easter invites to commit anew to open our eyes, ears, and hearts and to find our way to name and be signs of resurrection hope for our world in union with the Risen One.

And, wherever you are, here in the chapel, watching from your room, tuning in via livestream – we can all together proclaim: Christ Is Risen, Alleluia!