“The Light Has Risen” Lenten Reflections (Easter Sunday).

“The Light Has Risen”

Lenten Reflections (Easter Sunday).

Dear Readers,

Easter Sunday arrives like a quiet dawn after a long and heavy night, carrying within it a joy that is both gentle and overwhelming. The Gospel invites us into that early morning moment, when the world is still wrapped in darkness and uncertainty. Mary Magdalene goes to the tomb, not expecting a miracle, but carrying grief, confusion, and love. What she finds instead is something completely unexpected; the stone has already been rolled away.

There is something deeply human in that scene. She runs, not with clarity, but with urgency, searching for answers. Peter and the other disciple follow, both of them running, hearts racing, minds trying to understand what their eyes cannot yet fully grasp. They enter the tomb and see the linen cloths lying there, the face cloth folded and set apart. It is not chaos. It is not a disorder. It is a quiet sign that something extraordinary has happened. And in that moment, belief begins to awaken, even before full understanding comes.

Easter does not begin with complete certainty. It begins with a glimpse, with a moment that stirs the heart before the mind can explain it. It begins with an empty tomb and a question that slowly transforms into hope. Because what once seemed like the end is no longer the end. The silence of death has been broken. The light that seemed extinguished has risen again.

The reflection reminds us that darkness is never permanent. On Good Friday, everything appeared lost. The cross stood as a symbol of suffering, and the world seemed to fall into silence. But Easter reveals a deeper truth, that even in the darkest moments, God is already at work. The stone that seemed immovable has been rolled away, not by human strength, but by divine power. What no one could have done, God has already done.

And this is where Easter becomes personal. Because in our own lives, we all face stones that feel too heavy to move. We carry burdens of pain, broken relationships, fear, uncertainty, and loss. We look at these situations and ask the same question: who will roll away this stone? It is a question born from human limitation, from recognising that some things are simply beyond us.

But the empty tomb gives us an answer. The stone has already been moved. The resurrection tells us that there is no darkness too deep, no burden too heavy, no situation too broken for God to transform. The same power that raised Christ from the dead continues to work quietly in our lives, often in ways we do not immediately see or understand.

Easter also calls us to look beyond ourselves. The reflection gently reminds us that the face of the other is the beginning of how we truly live out love. The resurrection is not just something we celebrate; it is something we are invited to live. When we begin to see others with compassion, when we choose love over division, when we become instruments of peace in a broken world, we begin to roll away the stones that separate us from one another.

There is a quiet beauty in the detail of the folded cloth inside the tomb. It speaks of peace, of intention, of something completed and transformed. It reminds us that resurrection is not chaos, it is renewal. It is the beginning of something new, something filled with purpose and hope.

As we stand before the empty tomb today, we are invited not just to believe, but to trust. To trust that even when we do not fully understand, God is already working. To trust that the stones in our lives are not permanent barriers, but moments waiting for transformation. To trust that light will always find its way through the darkest places.

Easter is not just a day of celebration. It is a living promise. A promise that life is stronger than death, that hope is stronger than despair, and that love, in the end, always rises.

And so today, we rejoice, not because everything is easy, but because everything is possible.

God was always with us.

God Bless Us All…

Happy Easter!!!

Jacob Mascarenhas