Nearly 40 years ago, on a Tuesday, my sister Erin ran into the house with the excitement and enthusiasm that only a 7-year-old girl with a story to tell could muster. Immediately, she began to tell my mother about the wonderful adventure that she and her older brother had been having outside. Now she described in great detail the clouds and the birds and the sunshine and the neighbors who walked by all as we were engaged in the challenging project of getting a kite to fly on a Tuesday afternoon.
With vivid imagery, she explained to my mother each of the several attempts that we made to get the kite to fly. There was the time when the kite flew in the air for a few seconds and lost its place in the sky and fell to the ground. There was the time when the kite crashed immediately. But then, the kite flew, and there was the overwhelming emotion and excitement as she and her older brother had gotten a kite to fly on a Tuesday afternoon. But then, then she cast her eyes down because the kite flew into a tree. And so she described the tree and the branches and the leaves and the various attempts to free the kite from the tree until finally, her older brother climbed the tree. And then, she described the instructions that she, being a good little sister, gave to her older brother on how he could free the kite from the tree on this particular Tuesday afternoon. And then, after all of that, somewhat exhausted from more than ten minutes of recounting this exciting story, my little sister exclaimed to my mother, “And Ben’s still stuck in the tree!”
Only at that moment, did the reason for telling the story become perfectly clear. Only at that moment, with this final piece of revelation, did the story that my little sister told to my mother require a response.
The Lord has risen and he has appeared to Simon. The Lord is risen and He will meet you in Galilee. The Lord is risen and we recognized Him in the breaking of the bread. Only with this final piece of information does the reason for the telling of the story become perfectly clear. Only with this final piece of revelation does the story that the apostles and the evangelists and the holy women told require a response.
The Lord is risen and He has appeared to Simon. The Lord is risen and He will meet you in Galilee. The Lord is risen and we recognized Him in the breaking of the bread. To announce the Resurrection is the reason that the story was told at all. The Resurrection is the reason that we heard about the Angel Gabriel being sent from God to the Virgin at Nazareth. The Resurrection is the reason that we heard about no room and the inn and shepherds and magi. The Resurrection is the reason that we heard about the Sermon on the Mount, the five loaves and the two fish, and the Last Supper in the Upper Room.
The Resurrection is the reason for telling the story at all.
But even more than that, even more than that, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the reason that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The Resurrection is the reason for creation because through the Resurrection we are offered life with God. Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Father who has loved us from all eternity shares the love of eternity with us. It’s the reason for telling the story.
And now, the Lord invites us to His table where eternal love descends upon our altar. And here we join with the angels and the saints, with the Church on earth and the hosts of heaven, and cry out in response: Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia! Amen.
— Father Benjamin Roberts is the pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Monroe.