Easter People

Happy Easter!

I hope you are living in the joy of the season.

I would like to share with you an encounter of the risen Lord I recently had. Although I had planned to spend Easter week in rest I was kept on my toes with a round of family sickness and our children’s crazy schedules. I felt thrown off from our daily routine and was struggling to maintain some equilibrium. When the moment came I could finally make a holy hour I grabbed it. I hurried into the van trying to stay focused on time so I could get back and tend to whomever may need me.

But I was halted for a moment by a smell. It was a scent of lilies.

Realistically speaking I knew the chance of flowers in our minivan was slim, but instinct led me to check. I scanned the area only to see the usual empty water bottles, snack debris and collection of boys’ shoes (the least likely source), which confirmed there were no lilies in this messy vehicle.

I recognized this was real and not my imagination as I remembered a past Easter.

I wrote here : https://hisbreathfills.wordpress.com/2020/04/17/our-alleluia/ about a miraculous smell of lilies I experienced Easter of 2016, the year of mercy. This happened three times during the Octave. Although unmentioned in the post, I recall one occurrence of this being in our old minivan we had at the time, which was also messy with kid stuff.

That year I was in the midst of some difficult circumstances and was feeling challenged in moving into the Alleluia of the resurrection. These encounters of the risen Lord were an assurance of His great love and a reminder of His presence. I now see it was also an invitation to move from where I was dwelling into the freedom and joy of the resurrection.

I posted this story Easter of 2020 during the pandemic lockdown, a time when we were all challenged to experience resurrection joy in the difficult circumstances.

I think God has a personal resurrection message for each one of us. The recurrent floral scent this year I think is a sign of a repeating message for me . I see this in the Gospel account of Mary Magdalene at the tomb.

“But Mary stayed outside the tomb weeping. And as she wept, she bent over into the tomb and saw two angels in white sitting there, one at the head and one at the feet where the body of Jesus had been. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken my Lord, and I don’t know where they laid him.” John 20:11-13

I can relate to Mary as she struggles to process the troublesome events that have unfolded, affecting her ability to enter into God’s presence. How often do we remain stuck as God desires to move us forward with Him?

“When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus there, but did not know it was Jesus.” John 20:14

He sends Mary an invitation to encounter the resurrection, to walk in newness with Him.

“Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for? She thought it was the gardener and said to him, “Sir, if you carried him away, tell me where you laid him, and I will take him.”“Jesus said to her, “Mary!”  She replied, “Rabboni” (meaning Master).” John 20:15-16

Mary experiences the Alleluia.
Overwhelmed with distress, the miracle of the resurrection is realized when He calls her by name. I wrote in my last post: https://hisbreathfills.wordpress.com/2023/03/15/abundant-grace/ about God meeting us in in our barren suffering. For Mary, the greatness of the Alleluia is felt in her mourning and desolation.

Sometimes the Alleluia is magnified in its greatness because of when we encounter it. The joyful impact of Easter is strongest as we emerge from Lent.

The Gospel tell us Jesus drove seven demons out of Mary Magdalene. I feel this encounter with Jesus was the final piece sealing Mary’s deliverance.
She is moved from blindness to awareness and into her identity, her wholeness. By her will, she chose to believe in the risen Christ. This freed her to move into the mission of spreading the good news.

“Go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God. Mary of Magdala went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and what he told her.” John 20:17-18

Jesus meets us in the most unlikely moments of our lives. This can be during our greatest difficulties as we process through disbelief, fear or grief. Or when we are just caught up in the daily stress of life that can distract us from being in His presence.

Heaven’s scent meets us in our mess.

If we are open to His voice we will hear the invitation to move forward and encounter the risen Jesus and receive His summons for us.

The daily news can be very burdensome for God’s faithful in our current times. Each day we do not know what will unfold in Our Church, political world or our children’s safety.

But we are Easter people.

“We are Easter People and Alleluia is our song.” Saint John Paul II

The invitation for Mary is the same for all of us. To come out of ourselves where we dwell in the tomb of blindness and listen for his voice. To walk in our identity and freedom of living out the power of the risen Christ in us.

To proclaim the joy of the Gospel.

This is our deliverance.

One of this week’s post Communion prayers at Holy Mass says it all:

“Graciously be present to your people, we pray, O Lord, and lead those you have imbued with heavenly mysteries to pass from former ways to newness of life.”

May you be touched by heaven’s scent this Easter and move into newness!