Easter: 2024 Year B

Mark 16:1-7. "Do not be amazed! You seek Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Behold the place where they laid him. But go and tell his disciples and Peter, 'He is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him, as he told you.'"

Death is conquered, life is made new.

“For love is as strong as death, its jealousy as unyielding as the grave.” Song of Solomon 8:6

To what end will love go for the beloved? Can anything prevent love from its course? Love is boundless and enduring

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:22-23

It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame. Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot sweep it away. If one were to give all the wealth of one’s house for love, it would be utterly scorned.” Song of Solomon 8:6

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39

In the Passion and death of Our Lord we see love’s vulnerability. In the Resurrection we see love’s power and strength.

In the Passion and death of Our Lord we see to what lengths love is willing to go to to save the beloved, to save us. In the Resurrection we see love’s victory over every difficulty and obstacle even over death and sin. From Love comes all good things.

When God created us He created us out of love. He created the physical Universe because He loved us. And having fallen into sin God does not abandon us but rather because He loves us He became one of us ー “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 ー And having become one of us died to save us. “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

In the Passion and Resurrection we see the immense power of Love. We see that even from the greatest sin, the greatest evil, the darkest moment in human history, the killing of the Only Begotten Son of God, that even in this God does not abandon us but in Love turn it into the means of salvation. Turning the greatest crime, deicide, to the greatest act of love, mercy and redemption.

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace, you have been saved.” Ephesians 2:4-5

And so we too must love Our God with an unfailing love, a faithful love, a sacrificial love. If we love not what value is there in our prayers, our sacrifices, our good deeds (giving alms). Spiritual life is animated by love, without love what good could we do? Reading the 1 Corinthians.

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a ringing gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have absolute faith so as to move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and exult in the surrender of my body, but have not love, I gain nothing. 1Cor 13.

Let us ask this grace in this Mass that we may grow every day in love. To love God above all things and love your neighbour as ourselves. “Above all, love one another deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.” 1 Peter 4:8