Good morning. Today’s Gospel is a continuation of the Gospel passage that we heard proclaimed at the Easter Vigil. “[There] was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, approached, rolled back the stone, and sat upon it.” Then the angel said to Mary Magdalene and the other Mary: “Do not be afraid! I know that you are seeking Jesus the crucified. He is not here, for he has been raised just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him.’” What happens next? “[They] went away quickly from the tomb, fearful yet overjoyed, and ran to announce this to his disciples.”
These past 40 days of Lent, we journeyed with our Lord Jesus Christ through the desert. We prayed. We fasted. We gave alms. We did these things in earnest to prepare our hearts for Jesus’ Passion and death on the Cross and, of course, his glorious Resurrection. However, I believe that the encounter between an angel of the Lord and Mary Magdalene and the other Mary would suggest to us that our experience of the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ does not end after Easter Sunday nor does our Lenten observances of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving end with us greeting one another on Easter Sunday with “Happy Easter!” or with the ancient greeting, “Christ is risen! Alleluia! Alleluia! He is truly risen! Alleluia! Alleluia!” There is nothing wrong with exchanging pleasantries on Easter Sunday. However, if that is all that we do, then are we truly “living out the joy of the Resurrection” (Pope Leo XIV, homily, 4/5/2026).
So, how do we truly live out the joy of the Resurrection? We “go and announce the Gospel of the Lord.” This was what the angel of the Lord told Mary Magdalene and the other Mary at the dawn of “the first day of the week.” The angel said to them, “[Go] quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead and he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him.’”. The women were “fearful yet overjoyed” but, more importantly, they listened and did as the angel of the Lord commanded them “and ran to announce this to his disciples.” Like Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, while there is no doubt that we are overjoyed by the Resurrection of the Lord, at the same time, we are fearful of sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ to others, even those we are closest to.
Jesus knows our hearts and offers us these words of encouragement: “Do not be afraid. Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.” In other words, our Lord Jesus Christ tells us to “[go]. . . and make disciples of all nations” and promises to be with us always (Matthew 28:20). This is how we live out “the joy of the Resurrection,” not by keeping the Good News to ourselves but to share it with others so that they too may experience “the joy of the Resurrection.” And so, my sisters and brothers in Christ, let us boldly go forth and proclaim joyfully: “Christ is risen! Alleluia! Alleluia! He is truly risen! Alleluia! Alleluia!”
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