This is Our Feast of Victory
Everyone loves a good story. Some stories are just made up (see my previous post on the Clash of the Titans movie). Today we celebrate a story that is not only true, but the greatest story ever told. As the sequence for Mass sings, “Death and life fought bitterly for this wondrous victory. The Lord of Life who died, reigns glorified.” As the popular Easter hymn sings, “This is the feast of victory for our God.” It is also our feast of victory.
We all need a chance to be victorious. Perhaps this is why we love sports so much. We like the feeling of winning. Just imagine if the Royals won the World Series this year (it’s April…we can still dream). It would be a victory all the sweeter because we in Kansas City know all about being down and out. As wonderful as it would be to have 1985 all over again, that victory would pale in comparison to the victory we celebrate today.
“Christ the lamb has saved the sheep.” No one has ever been more down and out than the human race since the fall of Adam and Eve. Yet, God has continuously mounted a rescue mission. As he used a lamb at Passover to save the Hebrews in Egypt, so today he uses the Lamb of God to save us from the bondage of sin and death. Jesus truly died and was buried and is now raised from the dead. This is the greatest comeback story in history!
Today is our day to be excited and cheer that we are victorious. It is also Divine Mercy Sunday which reminds us that our sins need not get in the way of sharing in this victory. When Jesus appears to the apostles in the Gospel he still bears the wounds of the crucifixion, the mark of what our sins have done. Yet he comes not with condemnation, but reassurance for his apostles. “Peace be with you,” he says. He says the same to us today. Our sins are lost in the ocean of his mercy and we sing the hymn of victory with the lamb.
“Christ the paschal lamb has been sacrificed, therefore let us keep the feast.” This is our day of victory, a day won for us by the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad for the Lord is risen…indeed he is risen!