Easter Sunday – Sr. Mary Ann Barnhorn, SNDdeN
April 5, 2026
John 20: 1-9
Today we sing, “Alleluia, alleluia, Jesus Christ is Risen,
Alleluia.” The Easter event brings us to the pinnacle of
Christ’s life, lived for each of us who have been called by
name to know Him, to experience ourselves as loved by
Him, and to love Him in return. We have followed this God
of ours through His birth, infancy, adolescence (Did you
not know that I had to be about My Father’s business?),
His public life, teaching, touching and healing. This past
week, we have followed, with the
entire Church throughout the world, His Procession into Jerusalem (palms and
all), His sham trial, agony in the Garden, carrying of the cross, and finally death
on that cross.These are all life events that we can see, feel, and experience with
eyes of faith.
Each was a once-and-done event, and we treasure the opportunity we have had
to celebrate each of them as a faith community in liturgical prayer and
contemplation, year by year, and hopefully going deeper into the reality and
learnings of every single event. In these events, Jesus taught us who He is and
how we as His followers should live and love.
he Feast we celebrate today, the Resurrection of Jesus, is totally different. It is
not a once-and-done event in the life of Christ. Rather, the Resurrection is a
present, relational reality. It is Christ alive and active in our world and in our
lives, NOW. We do not reflect on the Resurrection scene to experience an
Instagram moment, or to see what we can learn from it. We live Resurrection in
the here and now, encountering Christ alive in our world, and in our lives NOW.
Not a sacred once-and-done event from the past, but rather an encounter with
the living Christ who is, in this very moment, drawing all people into the faith
community and empowering them to live with hope and love in daily life,
building a more just and peaceful world TODAY.
Psychologists agree that the number one desire of all women, men, and children is
for relationship. Through the Eucharist and the liturgy, the faith community enters
into Christ’s risen life together. The Resurrection we celebrate today is a shared
participation in divine life, not simply a historical memory.Theologian Jean Corbon
defines it as a living relationship offered to believers and stresses that the risen
Christ draws us into His own life and His communion with the Father through the
Spirit. The Resurrection is not simply Jesus leaving the tomb; it is an invitation into
the life of the Trinity, a life of relationship and love always.
Today we celebrate the fulfillment of the promise made in the Garden. “I will not
leave you orphans. I will be with you always” (Jn. 14:18). And the Resurrected Jesus
does just that. He lives and loves with us every moment of our lives. The gospels in
the coming days show that Jesus does not leave His friends behind. He turns to them,
speaking peace, sharing bread and calling them again into friendship. Easter reveals
that God’s love is stronger than death and that the relationship begun in Christ will
never be broken.
Today’s feast calls us not to merely imitate Jesus but to see and feel and act with Him.
Today and every day, the Resurrection calls us not to merely remember the Easter
story but rather to recognize the risen Christ drawing us into His own life and
communion with the Father through the Spirit, bringing us into a life of relationship
and love.
Theologians stress that the Resurrection creates a living community. The Eucharistic
Liturgy brings us into that shared life. Easter, therefore, is not only about life after
death but about a transformed life together, now. And so, we pray:
Jesus, You call us to live your Resurrection.
Draw us into a deeper relationship
With you, with one another
And with all who long for hope.
Let your new life rise in us each day
So that through our kindness, listening, and care
Others may glimpse that you are alive.
Amen. Alleluia.
John 20: 1-9
On the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.” So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb. They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and arrived at the tomb first; he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in. When Simon Peter arrived after him, he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there, and the cloth that had covered his head, not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place. Then the other disciple also went in, the one who had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed. For they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead.
The Gospel of the Lord
Meet Sister Mary Ann Barnhorn, SNDdeN
