Jesus wants to give us a real Easter. He wants to come to us in a new way and manifest His risen glory. He may come to us as a stranger criticizing us and saying: "What little sense you have! How slow you are to believe!" (Lk 24:25) Jesus may open our eyes to His risen presence by interpreting the Scriptures (Lk 24:27) and breaking the bread of the Eucharist (Lk 24:35). The risen Jesus may meet us at the three o'clock hour of prayer (Acts 3:1), when we accept the grace to heal a lame man (see Acts 3:6ff), or when we invite a stranger to supper (see Lk 24:29-30).

We meet the risen Christ by obeying the risen Christ. We will be at the right place at the right time to see His risen glory if we go where He wants us to go, do what He wants us to do, say what He wants us to say, and are what He wants us to be. To meet the risen Christ, we may have to swallow our pride when we're criticized, pray when we don't feel like it, and do things we're not used to doing or we're not comfortable with. "Doing our own thing" keeps us in an isolation chamber separated from the presence of the risen Christ. But denying ourselves frees us from the tomb of selfishness and leads us forth into the light of the risen Christ.

Let the Lord give you Easter. Obey and meet the risen Lord.

Rescript:  †Most Reverend Joseph R. Binzer, Auxiliary Bishop, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, December 12, 2017

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