Easter Reflection

Br. Kevin Kriso, OFM, and Bridget Walsh share their thoughts about Easter. Please share your reflections below.

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Easter Sunday Readings


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By Br. Kevin Kriso, OFM

A few weeks ago the SBU campus had a three hour “lockdown” drill. A simulated gunman took a class “hostage” in Plassmann Hall. The whole campus had to stay behind locked doors in darkened rooms listening to updates over speaker phones. No traffic was allowed in or out of campus. Emergency service personnel, including a SWAT team walked through their protocol, resolved the situation over a three hour period and afterward deemed the drill “a success.”

Most of us felt very uneasy and creeped out by the “realness” of the drill. While it is important to know what to do in such situations, there was a sick feeling that even here a gunman could take over the campus and a sadness that this is the world in which we live. In a macabre coincidence, just a week and a half later a gunman killed 13 and himself at an immigration service center in Binghamton, NY and other shootings happened in several other locations. That sick feeling and sadness returned again.

Like many people, I had to think to myself, “Why this sudden spate of violence?” The newspapers report that many Americans are “on the edge” in this poor economy. Countries around the world are taking America to task for its poor leadership of the world economy. Many, many people are finding that the identity they cultivated as a home owner and in a good field of employment has vanished. How many more will find themselves in this same situation before until we hit the economic bottom? Are we in for another Great Depression? If so, will people be able to adjust to a new status or will there be ever increasing despair, anger, and violence?

In the Gospel reading for Easter Sunday (Luke 24:13-35), two of Jesus’ very confused disciples are walking along to Emmaus trying to figure out what is going on in the world. They have seen the bottom drop out. As they walked along, they meet up with the risen Jesus but fail to recognize him. Jesus asks them what sort of things they are talking about. They reply “The things that happened to Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, how our chief priests and rulers handed him over to a sentence of death and crucified him. But we were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel…”

The whole point of the story is that they have misplaced their hopes. They had hoped that through mighty deeds Jesus would “redeem” Israel (a word we use to take things out of hock, or pay a fine to have set free). Perhaps they wanted Israel to become the premier nation in the world and replace Rome as the Imperial power. The true answer is that power and wealth are not the road to salvation. Unfortunately, in our country this is where many have placed our hope and have found an identity. However, when the expectations and feelings of entitlement for power and wealth wane, people are left frightened, angry and in despair. Violence easily erupts.

The question the two Emmaus-bound disciples had to answer is the same question we have to answer. Where do we find our power and identity? In a God who puts us in power and control or in a God allows himself to suffer, be abused and killed. Naturally we would like the first God. However, that is not God’s plan. God’s plan is that by putting our hands in God’s and facing things such as abuse, suffering and death and not running from them, we overcome these situations. New life comes when the bottom falls out and this new life may not be what we hoped for, but is what we need.

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By Bridget Walsh

My mother always put her family first and opened her caring heart to everyone she met. She went to mass regularly, volunteered when she could at the local Catholic School and was a Eucharistic Minister. Twelve years ago, she was diagnosed with cancer and it metastasized three years later. Multiple treatments were required for most of the time she had cancer. She had some good days and some really bad ones. There were days that she spent bent over in pain. All she would ask for was her cross to wear around her neck (the cross she received in Lourdes, France) and sit quietly until the pain subsided. On good days, I would ask how she was doing. Her reply would be, “today is a good day.” She always let the good moments carry her through the painful ones. My mother had such a faith in God and it remained with her even through her final days. I see how faith gave her strength and peace in her life; allowing her to really live each day she was given.

As Easter approaches, I think of my mother and how she endured the pain of cancer for so many years. Putting her faith in God, she chose not to be bitter about her life circumstances. She has helped me to understand why Jesus died on the cross not only to save us but to be our example. No matter what happens in life, God will help us to carry our pain. He will give us the strength to not only endure life, but to live with peace and hope. I feel grateful to be left with such an extraordinary example in my life. I have tried to live by her example and have found times of peace with the pain of loss. May this Easter mark a time of hope and closer relationship with God.


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