Deacon Tom Writes,
“Rise and Shine”
One of my lingering childhood memories is that of my mother calling from the bottom of the stairs, “Tommy Joe, rise and shine! It’s time to get ready for school.” It’s a pleasant memory. To this day there are times when I can still hear those words echo in my mind, especially on those rainy days when I just want to roll over and go back to sleep…. and then, softly in the back of my head, I hear these words, “Tommy Joe, rise and shine! It’s time to get ready…”.
As people who profess Christ’s Resurrection as central to our faith and lives, we realize that we who have been baptized in Christ also share in His death and that we, like Him, will one day also rise, as He did, to eternal life. There will come a day when we all will “rise and shine” forever. There will come a day when we will possess the fullness of life that Christ has promised to all who believe in Him and follow His ways.
Yet, I do not think that the promise of rising to new life is one that is entirely reserved for the next life. We are meant to “rise and shine” today because we participate in the Mystical Body of Christ. We “rise and shine” today because God has chosen us to be the stewards of all of creation and, if we are truly His disciples, we have said “yes” to that call. We “rise and shine” today because we have committed ourselves to follow “the firstborn from the dead” in the way of peace, in the way of humility, in the way of self-denial, in the way of choosing to follow in His footsteps.
We “rise and shine” every time we chose to imitate Christ by forgiving others who hurt us; when we offer up our sufferings to be a part of His suffering; when we embrace others’ sorrows as if they were our own; when we persevere to the end as He did.
On this most wonderful day, may we, like Christ, awaken to God’s call to “rise and shine.”
Happy and Blessed Easter to you and your loved ones!
Deacon Tom
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