We are Easter People

This phrase "We are Easter People", is something I sometimes hear when I go for funeral wakes. Often by faith-filled family members who believe that their loved one is in the loving arms of God. We are Easter People, because Christ has died for our sins, and risen over death, and will bring us to eternal life with Him. So all this time, the term Easter people, has always been about celebrating Christ's victory over death, and giving us salvation.

But this year, Easter people has taken on a new meaning for me. It all started with the Vespers on the Feast of St Mark the Evangelist. The Psalter Antiphons were in relation to Mark as the Evangelist and his mission to spread the Gospel a.k.a. the Good News.

I have become a minister of the Gospel according to the bountiful gift of God, alleluia.

I do all things for the sake of the Gospel, to have a share in his blessings, alleluia.

To me this grace was given, to preach to the peoples the unsearchable riches of Christ, alleluia.

Somehow they struck me, especially the second one "I do all things for the sake of the Gospel." I guess because I think it is a struggle for me to see all that I do as for the sake of the Gospel. The more I reflected on it, especially in the following days meditation, I realised that the readings for Easter season focus on the spread of the Gospel, the Good News that Christ is risen.

We have the stories of Mary Magdalene and the Emmaus disciples bringing the news to the disciples. But more importantly the great commission of Jesus, to the disciples to proclaim the Good News to the ends of the earth. And this week in the first readings, we have the stories of Peter, Steven, Philip and my favourite Saul.

Indeed, Easter isn't just about us celebrating this wonderful event for ourselves. It is a challenge for us to live as Easter People, that is, to share this Good News to everyone we meet. Each time in the Mass, when we come to celebrate that paschal mystery, when we partake in the Eucharist, it is so that we can carry that mystery, that Good News out of the Mass, and proclaim it to the world, in the lives that we live. To be Easter people really is to live (or attempt our very best) like the Evangelist

"I do all things for the sake of the Gospel, to preach to the peoples the unsearchable riches of Christ."