Acts 10:34,37-43; Col 3:1-4; John 20:1-9
Every Easter Sunday (especially during Easter Vigil), Papurisa Dios (Glory to God) and alleluia is being sung. When Papuri is sung, the bell is rung, we feel excited and we clap our hands because we are celebrating not a very ordinary celebration, but that God the Son is raised from the dead. This resurrection gives us hope that someday, just like Him, we too will rise from the dead and enter the Kingdom. That’s why we sing alleluia to the Lord.
Alleluia is a Hebrew word which means “Thanks be to God” or “Praise God’. As God’s children, we keep on thanking God our Father for His wonderful works of mercy and love. He gives us an assurance that one day we will be with Him in paradise and we will se Him face to face. We should be thankful to Him for this.
There was a story as told in a homily book about a newly married couple who wanted that their future children be insured. So they called all the insurance companies and instructed them to prepare the most comprehensive insurance coverage that they could offer. Three agents came and were trying to outdo each other. The first agent proposed: “We will insure your future children from the basket to the casket.”
The second agent not wanted to be outdone said: “We can do better. We can insure your future children from the delivery to the cemetery.”
The third one again not wanted also to be outdone said: “We have the best offer. We can insure your future children from womb to tomb.”
The wife was not satisfied. So she asked: “Is there an all-embracing coverage that anyone of you could offer?” The three agents responded: “Yes, there is but only God provide that.”
“What is it,” asked the husband. They chorused: “From conception to the resurrection.”
My dear friends no one can give a comprehensive assurance of our lives except God who secured us from conception to the resurrection and even until we become citizens of heaven. He did this to Jesus and for us. He said: “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; before you came to birth I consecrated you,” (Jer. 1:4-5). So we should be thankful for this.
We should be thankful that through Christ’s resurrection, it gives us the needed hope to courageously face life’s challenge in spite of everything. That without the resurrection our suffering would be meaningless, our belief in God would be nothing, our love would be fruitless and our death would be in vain. It is better not to be born anymore. “This resurrection gives us unfailing hope in God’s testament of love: we pass over from the bondage of Satan to the freedom of Christ, we pass over from an insecure world to the certainty of the Kingdom of God and we pass from mortal lives to the abiding presence of God. Thank God I am alive,” a priest said in his homily. Again, we should be thankful for this.
Also, we should be thankful that Jesus calls us His friends, his intimate friends in spite of what we have done. Just like what His apostles have done to Him. He did not accuse them of leaving Him alone in crisis. He gave them a chance to make up of their lives again because he knew them and us too to Him. He knows our fears, our doubts, our fragilities, our self-centeredness and our unfaithfulness. He knows our best and our worst moments, our ups and downs, our vulnerabilities, brokenness, stupidities, mistakes and hang-ups. He knows our ‘kiliti’ and our ‘kilig’. He knows us fully and yet in spite of these, he loves us unconditionally. He really knows us from head to foot without any reservation and still likes us and loves so much. Just like the book of Eugene Kennedy entitled: “If You Really Knew Me Would You Still Like Me?” It’s about getting to know us, getting to know our strengths and weaknesses and building our self-esteem based on our strength.
So if I have “kili-kili power” (body odor) would you still like me? If you know that I am strict, would you still like me? If I tell your secret to others, would you still like me and love me unconditionally, just like Jesus Christ who was died and resurrected where we feel at home and at peace with Him?