"Of this we are witnesses"

Today at Mass a phrase stood out for me:

“The author of life you put to death, but God raised him from the dead; of this we are witnesses.”

And in the gospel, I heard Luke recount how Jesus made himself known to his disciples after his resurrection; how Jesus opened their minds to the scriptures and made them realize that “You are witnesses of these things." It all came together for them after a resurrected Jesus appeared to them through their sharing a meal in this story from the book of Luke. It was an intimate encounter with the risen Lord that allowed them to accept the truth of what the Lord had been preparing them for all along.

The story of Luke tells us how the disciples had been questioning. I imagine that they, like me, would have been wondering, “Now what?” ….“What does this all mean?”

You see, I too question God. Today’s readings challenged me to not only remember God’s mercy and the sacrifice that his son made for me but to examine how different my life would be without having the grace of realization that Jesus Christ is alive and active in my life today.

Three Saturday’s ago at sundown our Christian community assembled outside the church doors. The sky was becoming dusky and a wind was whipping up the flames in the fire pit outside. As the fire was blessed, the Pascal candle was processed inside and I thought of all the winds in my life that had me drifting from one truth-ism to the other. The world offers me lots of truth-isms. They come in the form of attractions that are initially appealing but have little depth. After encountering these false gods, I was always left feeling empty and spiritually unsettled, until one day many years ago I encountered Him. And at times I wonder….now what? What does this all mean?

Having made the light holy, our diverse community  entered into a darkened church together. Stumbling to find seats, we all held small candles that were being lit one by one, from the large Pascal candle. We each passed along our light, until in a few minutes the darkened room was glowing from the light emanated by all our little candles. I remembered the darkness I had been living in, darkness that I was not aware of, because I had become accustomed to my limited perception of truth. This night I was witnessing the symbolic sharing of the light of Christ, given to each one of us through our baptism.

“The author of life you put to death, but God raised him from the dead; of this we are witnesses.”

Our candles were then extinguished and we heard many reading from the Old Testament, we retold our creation story, we heard of Abraham's obedience, of the Red Sea crossing, I reflected on how God had been actively pursuing all of us since the very beginning of time. We listened to how throughout all of those years, God's chosen people sustained themselves on God’s word and promise and how God faithfully brought them out of slavery. Yes, I too had been a slave to a darkened world. My own story of salvation is very similar and I couldn’t help but feel my heart wanting to burst out in joy for how the Lord had rescued me. Lord, you did this all for me? How wonderful is our God! As I reflected on this, the great Gloria is sung. The lights are brought on. The larger than life wooden resurrected Christ hanging in our sanctuary becomes a focal point, a reminder of a miracle that came to be so many years ago.  It hangs joyfully over our altar, where our Lord willingly makes himself the sacrificial lamb of God, once and for all of eternity.   We anticipate sharing in this mystical meal, where we too can be transformed.  The sanctuary had been bare for a week, we now see surrounded by all kinds of beautiful springtime flowers, bells are rung and all of us rejoice, throughout the entire world all the people of God rejoice. Yes, how great is our God!

“The author of life you put to death, but God raised him from the dead; of this we are witnesses.”

Then our focus shifted to the blessing of the water in the baptismal font. Now we prepare to witness many individuals who after a significant amount of time in discernment, prayer, and study came forth publicly desiring to become baptized in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The church choir sings Alleluia out loud after each immersion. After which they were presented with their own Easter candle, a reminder to them of their individual acceptance to become witnesses to the light of Christ in all they do and say. The assembly gathered joyfully, we all were watching a spiritual dying to an old way and a rebirth to a new creation, it was exhilarating! I also recalled my own moment when I, as an adult took my faith as my own and felt blessed to stand and be welcomed among the people of our church, strengthened by thier own resurrection stories.

“The author of life you put to death, but God raised him from the dead; of this we are witnesses.”

Finally we all gathered around the altar table where we prepared to share in a spiritual banquet and to worship our God as he transforms the simple elements of bread and wine into his body and blood. This part of the liturgy is the summit of our faith.  Being baptized as a Christian we are committed to do what Jesus commanded.

In my own spiritual transformation, I recall the Eucharistic mystery being the one I struggled with the most. How could this be true; Jesus truly present in the form of bread and wine? Until one day the scriptures were opened to me and I read "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.” (Jn 6:53)
I continued to read, I saw that many of his followers struggled too, they walked away.  I had been one of those disciples who walked away from this truth; it was just too incredible to bear. How different my faith is today, due to my own encounter with my resurrected Lord many years ago. Today I believe and accept this mystery, like Peter I realized that there is no one else who speaks truth, He is the One. Quietly I prepare my heart in order to receive Christ in this Eucharistic feast, thankful of His mercy.

Today on the third Sunday of Easter, I became more deeply aware and thankful that the author of life, whom I put to death, was raised by the Father on the third day will never abandon me. I am a witness to of all these things that Jesus did for me. God is love.

"Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things."

We continue to celebrate Easter, our church embraces this season until May 27th when we celebrate the Feast of Pentecost....until then, let us not be troubled....we have encountered him. Glory be to God!