Episodes
Sunday Apr 12, 2020
Homily for Easter Sunday
Sunday Apr 12, 2020
Sunday Apr 12, 2020
On December 6, 1875, the German ship SS Deutschland sank in the North Sea, at Kentish Knock off the coast of England. Among the 157 passengers who died were 5 Franciscan sisters who were traveling to Missouri to begin teaching. The young nuns sacrificed their lives so that others could be rescued. According to one account, the sisters stayed below deck as the ship sank. As the water began rising around them, they were heard praying, "O Christ, O Christ, come quickly!"
The Jesuit poet Gerard Manley Hopkins was deeply moved by the story and he wrote a poem about it entitled The Wreck of the Deutschland, which he dedicated to the five sisters. He saw in their deaths a parallel to the suffering of Christ. Hopkins concludes the poem saying, “Let Him easter in us, be a dayspring to the dimness of us ...”
As used in the poem, the word "easter" is a nautical term meaning to steer a ship toward the east, into the light.
"Let Him easter in us."
Easter as a verb, not simply the name of this great holy day and this holy season that we begin today, not simply the mystery of God's immeasurable redeeming love, but Easter as something we think, as something we feel, as something we do.
"Let Him easter in us" so that we may live our lives in the light of His compassion and peace, in His justice and forgiveness.
"Let Him easter in us" so that we may be of humble service like Him, healers like Him, teachers like Him, foot washers like Him.
"Let Him easter in us" so that we may bear our crosses for one another just as He bore His Cross for us.
"Let Him easter in us" so that, at the end of our voyage, we may "easter" in Him.
Throughout the forty days of Lent, we have been steering our lives toward the light, trying to shake the darkness, the doubts, the burdens of living, the heaviness of hearts, the weight that the pandemic has placed on our lives and in our hearts. When we emerge from the restrictions placed on our lives these past few weeks, we may experience a glimpse of the resurrection to come.
In the meantime, may Easter become a verb in our lives, a way of living, a way of loving, a way of seeing and hearing and understanding. Let us not just celebrate this Easter day, but let us "live" Easter every day. Let us not just mark this event in the life of Jesus, but let this day mark our lives with the compassion, humility, and joy of the Risen LORD.
Let us "easter" through these next weeks and months until we emerge from the darkness the “tombs,” which the scourge of this pandemic has placed us in, and may we live every moment of our lives in the Easter Light of Christ.+
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