Easter People

by Fred C. Wilson III
April 17, 2011
“Do not abandon yourselves to despair. We are an Easter people and Alleluia is our song.”
-Pope John Paul II-

Paschal Memories
When I was a kid Easter was a time for elaborate church services, chocolate bunnies, and some great meals. Mom usually went to church early Easter morning. Since I sang in the choir I’d always attend the lengthy Latin Easter Vigil services at our parish church of Corpus Christi on the south side. In those days Midnight Mass started at Midnight not 7:30 like now. When we moved to Hyde Park we switched our parish membership to St. Thomas the Apostle where my youngest brother would serve the Vigil Mass as Master of Ceremonies. Though my middle brother wasn’t one for church, he made sure his kids were altar servers and attended Mass regularly.

Easter morning was a time to open our baskets, enjoy a delicious ham, eggs breakfast though I’d add grits as a side dish. For Easter dinner Mom would prepare macaroni and cheese, (chitins) chitterlings, German styled potato salad, spaghetti topped with Parmesan cheese, and for dessert sweet potato pies. Despite our impoverished childhood our mother always made sure we’d have Easter baskets, delicious meals, and a warm home. As mentioned in former holiday articles, Easter Sunday was the one holiday in our home that was fight free. Easter still remain my favorite holy day.

Did Jesus Rise from the Dead?

Easter/Resurrection Sunday celebrates the physical reanimation of Jesus Christ from the dead but did Jesus Christ actually rise from the dead? According to the New Testament of the Christian Bible, St. Luke’s Gospel verses 24:36-46 say Our Lord’s physical resurrection after His bloody crucifixion is a living reality. Due to space restrictions I’ll briefly cover only four verses (40-43).

“When He had said this, He showed them His hands and feet. And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, He asked them, ‘Do you have anything here to eat?’ They gave Him a piece of broiled fish, and He took it and ate it in their presence.”

Reader if you’re a Christian as I try to be, we both believe in the physical coming back to life again of Our Divine Lord. The question remains; why so many doubters, deniers, and scoffers of this basic tenant of Christianity? Here are some reasons:

* The Christian Church after over 2,000 years existence has collectively failed to live up to the Message of its Founder Jesus Christ; the saints are the lone exceptions. Over the centuries apathy fueled by greed and hypocrisy among church leaders (corrupt popes and lesser clergy) failed to inflame or even snuff out piety among believing Christians.

* The Bubonic Plague years left ordinary believers bereft of quality clerics many of whom died serving their people whereas corrupt clerics shielded themselves from the worst of the Black Death by hiding behind high walls with the castled rich.

* The 30 Years War in Europe between Protestants and Catholics left both ‘sides’ battered and bruised. Western Christianity was too late and too exhausted to combat the new enemies of secular humanism and growing nationalism after both ‘sides’ fought furiously for its existence and to eradicate the other.

* Centuries of growing pessimism spurred by the above mentioned war, colonialism, Napoleon’s wars, and the two global conflicts put the ‘nails in the coffins’ of the Faith for many.

With Christianity enduring centuries of bad leadership in clerical and lay ranks modern people feel betrayed and pessimistic to believe in ‘pie-in-the-sky’ notions of a resurrection of a Man who died over 2,000 years ago.

During my 12 trips back home I’ve sensed and read in various Filipino publications the once pious Philippine Islands are showing serious signs of breaking away from the Christian Faith. The twin culprits: impiety among many believers (clergy and laity) and growing secularism fueled by poverty caused by greed and political corruption. Only quality Christian witness will bring the Philippines and humanity to a new golden age of faith.

God is Dead!

Australian bishop Anthony Fisher launched a scathing attack on modern unbelief in an article by written Jacqueline Maley run in the Sidney Morning Herald. Her article quoted the bishop of Parramatta, a suburb of Sidney, New South Wales, as saying that: “GOD IS DEAD though not in the sense that modern atheists imply…and thank GOD we’re all not atheists…” The bishop according to Ms. Maley gave examples of the 20th century’s genocidal wars and economic disasters. The bishop attributed them to modern humanity’s desire to live without its Creator. Bishop Fisher continued by saying, “Last century we tried godlessness on a grand scale and the effects were devastating…Nazism, Stalinism, Pol-Pottery, mass murder and broken relationships: all promoted by state-imposed atheism or culture-insinuated secularism…and it is an illusion to think we could live a better life without God.” Fisher went on to say that he acknowledged that it was, “violence, abuse, and un-lovingness,” of many believers that drove some people away from Christianity and belief in the Deity.

Fisher said that Godlessness led to secularism which led nations and individuals to accept the evil of abortion. But according to Ms. Maley the man never mentioned the global sex abuse scandals plaguing Christianity Catholicism in particular.

I believe in Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever and hope you do too. The handwriting is on the proverbial wall. The only way we Christians can eradicate the twin evils of atheism and secularism is by living lives worthy of the name Christian. Only then will humankind accept the faith reality of the glorious resurrection of the Lord. We must begin at the beginning. We have to start from Day One and spiritually return to the year 33 AD when the Christian Church began. Our lives must be Gospel centered. The ‘show’s over’ friend; we can’t run or hide anymore. We either live the Way of the Master or we, along with the rest of the world, suffer the effects of our half-hearted witness, global negligence, and continued bad example. All this will ultimately result in a great die-off eradicating ourselves and all earthly creation from the planet in some future cataclysm.

Exultet/Rejoice
The last stanza of the great Easter Vigil prayer the Exultet ends with a final acclamation of the Risen Christ:

May the Morning Star
which never sets
find this flame still
burning:
Christ, that Morning Star,
Who came back from
the dead,
and shed His peaceful light on all humankind,
Your Son, who lives and reigns forever and ever,
Amen.

NEXT UP
I hope that this Easter edition will give you a positive sense of urgency in spreading the Message of Our Risen Divine Messiah. We are an Easter people and all forms of sadness, gloom, despair, and negativity must be banished from our lives. Next edition will be about the Alaskan Filipino-American experience or something similar. On behalf of MegaScene’s ‘Philippine Adventures’ the editors and staff wish you and your loved ones a Most Blessed Easter Season. (vamaxwell@yahoo.com)