EASTER 2020 - HOPE IN JESUS LIVES!

"HOLY MOTHER" by Eric Clapton and Luciano Pavarotti

Today is Easter Sunday 2020. An Easter that will never be forgotten for a long time to come. All the churches across the world are silent and empty. However,  our hearts which is a "temple of God" is not empty. In a mysterious way, this Holy Week and Easter has drawn us very much closer to Jesus, our Redeemer. 
All Glory and Praise to God! Easter is all about Hope!

In this pandemic, along with the fear and despair, many of us have realized how important our Christian faith is in our lives.

Despite it all, we have experienced interior joy and a deep soul-searching of what should be most important in our journey here on earth, Yes, it is not  the material things in life. Where are we in our spiritual life? Are we ready for our eternal life in heaven? Have we been good stewards of the earth as per one of the readings during the Easter Vigil mass where God made man the master of all the living animals and plants on land and sea. Each one of us as human beings, have failed in this aspect - towards our fellow human beings and to all of Creation. 

Video Credit: Guardian UK

Through social media, we have seen air and sea pollution clear up so much, that Mount Everest can be seen clearly miles away in North India. We see dolphins swimming and frolicking in waters from Venice in Italy to Cochin, India; a herd of Great Orme mountain goats coming down from the mountains in North Wales; a critically endangered wild civet cat calmly walking the streets of a town in Kerala, India. In fact, today I saw video of a monkey taking a dive from the outside of a condo  a few floors up into  the swimming pool and then swimming leisurely  across the pool. It was amazing!  But it brought a serious question and resolve within my heart - to be a much better human being. I know I can live with a lot less materially and to focus on what should be important - life on earth is temporary. We are pilgrims and our home is Heaven. I need to be more socially and ethically responsible to be a a better steward while on earth.

This Holy Easter, let us rejoice in Jesus who has won Eternal Life for all of humankind. Let us proclaim and live the Victory of the Cross - Jesus our Redeemer.

I received the beautiful YouTube video at the top of the post from my sister in USA a short while ago - "Holy Mother" by Eric Clapton and Luciano Pavarotti. It is the first time I have seen this music video. When Eric Clapton started singing, I felt teary and the moment Luciano Pavarotti started singing until the end, I had painful goosebumps and a great joy well up within my heart.  It made me realize tangibly how the entire Holy Week was about Jesus' greatest gift to us - His Life AND it was also about Mother Mary, our Holy Mother. Her courage, her faith and her total acceptance of God's Will is the shining example to each of us. She was a human being just like you and me. We need to strive to be a "missionary" like Mother Mary - not by being famous and rich and having human power. It is in quiet humility, striving to be totally faithful and courageous to do God's Will at all times. Mother Mary lead us to live  for Jesus with joy and hope! This music video is the inspiration of my Easter 2020 post.

Here is a short prayer to St. Philip Neri, known as the Patron Saint of Joy and 

Apostle of Rome, who was a priest, missionary and founder of the Congregation 

of the Oratory that can help a soul weighed down by the anxieties of the world 

see the joy of the Gospel in a new way.

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O holy St. Philip Neri, patron saint of joy,

you who trusted Scripture’s promise

that the Lord is always at hand and that

we need not have anxiety about anything,

in your compassion heal our worries and sorrows

and lift the burdens from our hearts.

We come to you as one whose heart swells with

abundant love for God and all creation.

Hear us, we pray, especially in this need

(make your request here).

Keep us safe through your loving intercession,

and may the joy of the Holy Spirit

which filled your heart, St. Philip,

transform our lives and bring us peace.

Amen

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 “The Christian ‘identity card,'” Pope Francis underscored, “is joy, the Gospel’s joy, the joy of having been chosen by Jesus, saved by Jesus, regenerated by Jesus; the joy of that hope that Jesus is waiting for us, the joy that – even with the crosses and sufferings we bear in this life – is expressed in another way, which is peace in the certainty that Jesus accompanies us, is with us.”

Pope Francis

Mass Homily at Casa Santa Maria (23 May 2016)