Reflections on Easter

by Ethan Mark Chia, 21, CAYA

The candlelight, the processions, the beautiful music and psalms were things I always looked forward to during Easter every year. Bearing witness to the thousands still celebrating the Easter Vigil Mass online showed me that our Risen Lord works powerfully even through the gloom of COVID-19.

Easter is knowing that the Risen Lord is present and working in our midst. I believe that He is working through our healthcare and frontline workers, giving them resilience even as the number of cases surge. I believe He is in every person who is in a COVID-19 cluster and living in fear, providing love and comfort beyond measure. I believe He is in every person in positions of authority, giving them fortitude to implement concrete measures. And I believe He is also close to us as He always is – all we need to do is to acknowledge His comforting presence.

The Exsultet proclaims the victory of light over darkness, freedom over slavery, goodness over sin, unity over division and Christ over the grave. It reminds me of the firm and lasting hope that one day, with God’s grace, we will triumph. No matter how far away this may seem, it gives me resilience to persevere.

Easter is the constant renewal in my heart, as God transforms me daily in areas of patience and generosity towards my family. He has given me oppurtunities to learn more about him through weekly sessions with my JC prayer group and with the CAYA (Come As You Are) community. It reminds me how interconnected we truly all are (only a ZOOM call away).

My prayer is that the joy of Easter will continue to flow into every aspect of our lives, and that we will be comforted by the fact that our faith and our God are our constants in a turbulent world, and hold on to the unwavering hope that we will triumph together!

by Gerald Kingsley Thillai Nathan , 21, NYP

For the past few years, Holy Week has been very hectic for me. As an altar server, the only thing that would run through my mind is ensuring that all the preparations are done so mass can run smoothly. The only time when I would able to focus and sit with the Lord was on Maundy Thursday, serving during holy hour while kneeling in front of the Altar of Repose.

However , this year has been different. The current situation with COVID-19 and mass being suspended meant that I wasn’t able to do what I have been doing for the past few years. I remember entering holy week feeling lost and asking God why this was happening especially when this would be my last year as an altar server as I will be enlisting to National Service soon. So I turned to my friend Francis. He advised me to trust in the Lord and told me to do reflections on the daily readings that week. While I was praying , I was suddenly reminded of the story of Mary and Martha. Martha was doing all the work, serving the Lord while Mary was sitting with Him. I realised that for the past few years, I have been like Martha. I was busy serving the Lord. But this year, the Lord is inviting me to be like Mary and sit with Him. So everyday after mass, I spent time with the Lord by sitting in front of my altar.

In this season,  I feel the Lord is inviting me to venture out of my comfort zone. I had grown comfortable with being busy during the previous years’ Lent and Holy Week. But this year, the Lord wants me to draw closer to Him and to focus on His resurrection. He has also given me this opportunity to spend more quality time with my family by attending mass together. He is also inviting me to be more loving and patient with my loved ones. In this Easter season, the Lord has brought me out of the tomb with Him and led me to rejoice with Him through his victory and salvation! I am thankful and blessed for these revelations of truth! Alleluia He is risen! Praise God!

by Petrina Lew, 26, SOW 2020

It took me a while to ponder and pen down what Easter means to me. For the past decade of my life, Easter has always been filled with parties and celebrations with friends and fellow catechists. I would always tell the children that Easter is when Jesus conquered death and that His light is stronger than death. But I wondered if I had really internalised what Jesus’ resurrection truly means to me.

In these uncertain times when masses have been suspended indefinitely and with the extension of the circuit breaker measures, I am made to stop and ponder deeply on what Easter really means without any distractions. It has made me realise that my family has never had a meal together on Easter Sunday as I had always been fully occupied with preparations for the children’s Easter mass in the parish. All my life, I have found it difficult to talk about Jesus even though I was born a cradle Catholic. But going into Easter season at home, has given me more opportunities to prepare meals and eat with my family, to talk about the joy and my conviction of His Resurrection in my journey and to stir the faith of my parents and siblings.

After attending and reflecting on the online masses by Archbishop daily (since the Paschal Triduum), new hope and courage were words that have come to mind frequently. With the opportunity to attend the School Of Witness this year, the experience and encounter has taught me to be more sensitive to Jesus’ presence even in seemingly mundane activities and daily interactions with family and friends. The joys and victories that He has blessed me with and won for me becomes amplified this Easter.

John 20:19 says, “and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’”

I do not want to be like the disciples living behind a locked door in fear and uncertainty this Easter, but desire to be able to live and rejoice in His resurrected power. I need to be courageous to die to my old self and trust that He will lead me into deeper waters this Easter to recognise His voice better.

by Bryan Francisco, 24, SIM CS

Easter has always been a time of celebration for me. My friends and I would all dress up and head over to our respective parishes and rejoice in the resurrection of our Lord. There would be life beaming from wall to wall and smiles on all our faces.

However, this year was different. Masses were online, Churches closed, and people confined to their homes. Everything was quiet. It was probably how the Saturday in between Good Friday and Easter Sunday was for the disciples, but it was happening in the now! AND TO US! It was easy to allow the negativity and lies to creep in but I am thankful to Jesus for blessing me with the ability to see His light amidst the darkness.

Sister Mariam James (some of you may know her from the Abiding Together Podcast) mentioned during her preaching at the Virtual Conference, held over the weekend of Palm Sunday, that the storm of COVID-19 is an opportunity for us to begin to take responsibility for our actions and of our lives. It has  allow us to be present with Him knowing that He will always be present to us. We are invited to sit with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane and allow Him to take stock of our hearts. This struck a chord in me, to be intentional with everything that I do in this new “normal”.

Easter was always an outward sign of the grace and resurrection of the Lord, but this year, everything has become more internal. Allowing Jesus into my unfaithful heart again allowed me to return to my ever-faithful King. Jesus has used this season to remind me to be gentle with myself, loving to my family, and everyone I interact with. This period has brought me the gift of time with my loved ones and I can safely say that I have never experienced so much joy and laughter with my parents. We even watched Easter Mass together (and we’ve not attended mass together since I was a kid)!

As the lyrics in the song “In Over My Head” by Bethel Music goes,
“further and further, my heart moves away from the shore… I’ve lost control but I’m Free” 

This Easter, the Lord is inviting me to let go of my desire for control over the situations in my life, to have a deeper trust in Him and to bring His love and hope to my family. He loves and holds me and continues to guide me, moulding me into the man He created me to be. Jesus desires to pour His brave love out upon us. Brave because we show up with Him and turn to Him even in the darkness. Will you, my brothers and sisters, allow Jesus to pour His love upon you, and will you sit with Him this Easter?

by Genevieve Especkerman, 25, The Lord’s Vineyard community

“Jesus’ hope is different. He plants in our hearts the conviction that God is able to make everything work unto good, because even from the grave He brings life.”
– Pope Francis; Easter Homily

In this Easter season, I am called to trust that life will be brought forth in my life, even here, even now. Even in the areas of my life that seem to be barren and desert-like, He continues to pour His living water into these places, and makes them grow and blossom.

In my family, I am called to hold on to the promise that He is working and something good is coming out of this situation — that we are all at home together for a reason, and to cooperate with His grace to respond when I am prompted to grow my relationship with my parents. Be it in reaching out to them to spend time together, or sacrificing time that I would rather use to relax, to help my mom out with chores or cooking a meal. At times, it is so much easier to despair and feel resentful, but He tells me that He is present, He is Lord of my family, and He will transform what feels like barren land into a bountiful crop.

I have also always struggled with the idea of being good enough, and it has somehow been exacerbated in the past few weeks. My default tendencies were to self-condemn every time I received a negative comment, or concluded after an interaction or activity that my efforts just weren’t adequate, and that others could do what I did so much better. I would then start to withdraw as much as possible, to “minimise” my less-than-good impact on whatever was going on. However, I am infinitely thankful to the Lord that He draws ever-closer to me in this season, and shows that He loves me too much to let me remain in this space. That even as I am in a place that feels void of hope, it is another situation, another occasion where He proves how much His love is for me. He pours living water into this area by gently inviting me out of this darkness and back into the light. He invites me to participate and be fully present anyway, for it is there that I can experience His providence and the love from those around me too.

Even as I am typing this, I know that He called me to do this for a reason — to testify and convict myself again of how good He is to me!

Blessed Easter dear friends, and may you allow the Lord to convict your heart of His goodness in your life.