In his Easter homily last year, Pope Francis reflected on St. Mark’s account of the resurrection, which begins with the women going to Jesus’ tomb at dawn. Having had to bury the Lord in haste on Good Friday before the start of the Passover Sabbath, they returned on Sunday to perform the proper anointings of His body that were part of Jewish custom of caring for the dead. As they go to the place, bringing their supplies, one question weighs on their minds: “who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” The stone is massive and beyond their strength to move. It could serve as an image, in the words of the pope, of what the women felt in their hearts. It was “the end of their hopes, now dashed by the obscure and sorrowful mystery that put an end to their dreams.” Yet they move forward, intent on caring for the mangled corpse of their beloved Master. Then, to their amazement, “when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, was rolled back.”
“There are times,” the pope says, “when we may feel that a great stone blocks the door of our hearts, stifling life, extinguishing hope, imprisoning us in the tomb of our fears and regrets, and standing in the way of joy and hope. We encounter such ‘tombstones’ on our journey through life in all the experiences and situations that rob us of enthusiasm and of the strength to persevere. We encounter them at times of sorrow: in the emptiness left by the death of our loved ones; we encounter them in the failures and fears that hold us back from accomplishing the good we mean to do. We encounter them in all the forms of self-absorption that stifle our impulses to generosity and sincere love, in the rubber walls, the real rubber walls, of selfishness and indifference that hold us back in the effort to build more just and humane cities and societies; we encounter them in all our aspirations for peace that are shattered by cruel hatred and the brutality of war. When we experience these disappointments, do we also have the sensation that all these dreams are doomed to failure, and that we too should ask ourselves in anguish: ‘Who will roll away the stone from the tomb?’”
On this great solemnity of Our Lord’s resurrection, we receive our answer. Easter, the Holy Father explains, is “the revelation of God’s power: the victory of life over death, the triumph of light over darkness, the rebirth of hope amid the ruins of failure. It is the Lord, the God of the impossible, who rolled away the stone forever. Even now, he opens our hearts, so that hope may be born ever anew. We too, then, should ‘look up’ to him.” Whatever circumstances we find ourselves in or difficulties we face; whatever form the great stone takes in our lives, we can turn with confidence to the One who emerged from the tomb that Easter morning. He is risen. He lives. And He makes all things new.
On behalf of Fr. Mariusz, Deacon Larry, and the parish staff, I wish you and your loved ones a joyful and blessed Easter.
posted 4/19/25
The Parish of St. Cecilia-St. Gabriel 