Easter Sunday: Rise, heart, thy Lord is risen!

A reflection for Easter 2025, written and spoken by Kieran J. O'Mahony OSA. 

www.tarsus.ie

Gentle piano music to close the meditation

Transcript

John’s Lane
D08 F8NW
20 April 2025
Easter Vigil

Welcome
There is a delightful Easter poem by George Herbert, which begins with the words:

Rise, heart, thy Lord is Risen.

Two of my favourite passages about the resurrection are from St Paul, but not the usual places such as Romans 6 and 1 Corinthians 15. Both are from 2 Corinthians, where we read:

For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, the one who was proclaimed among you by us—by me and Silvanus and Timothy—was not “Yes” and “No,” but it has always been “Yes” in him. For every one of God’s promises are “Yes” in him; therefore also through him the “Amen” is spoken, to the glory we give to God. But it is God who establishes us together with you in Christ and who anointed us, who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a down payment. (2 Corinthians 1:19–22)

A little further on, the apostle declares:

For God, who said “Let light shine out of darkness,” is the one who shone in our hearts to give us the light of the glorious knowledge of God in the face of Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:6)

Topic
The deep meaning of resurrection is that God is faithfully loving and lovingly faithful, in an absolute and unrestricted way.  As a result, the last word is a word of life, everlasting life, and love without end. It may be we need to hear this message today more than ever.

Steps
1. We need to hear this message as we live through a time of great uncertainty, war, migration and political upheaval — optimism about goodness lies shattered. In times like these, we are blessed that we have each other in the community of faith: and our faithfulness to each other is a sacrament of God’s faithfulness in Jesus. We all need the great reminder in 1 Corinthians 15:

For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be eliminated is death. (1Corinthians 15:25–26)

As little further later in the same chapter, Paul “shouts” triumphantly:

But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1Corinthians 15:57)

Against implacable appearances, the final word will not be evil but goodness, not death but life, not no but yes, not hate but love, in a word, life in abundance. 

2. We need to hear this message again as church,  as we walk together the synodal pathway, a journey of hope. Of course, the process is not perfect and of course mistakes will be made, but a very solid foundation has been laid down. No one should underestimate the potential of this vast discernment: it is really a Vatican III, a relaunch of the whole project of the Gospel and the project of church. It is tempting to think this is all about church. But that is strictly not true. It must first of all be about the great events that give us new life in Christ, the salvation we celebrate so richly in these days. The Good News is what matters — in all its rich dimensions — spirituality, discipleship, joy, justice, care of creation and so on. Only then do we go on to consider what kind of community of faith we should be so as to better serve the Gospel. With the “yes” of God ringing in our ears and in our hearts, we should feel free to dream anew. That is surely the message of the closing document of the Roman synod in 2024 (recommended reading!).
 
3. We need to hear this message again on a personal level. All of us have been baptised. As St Paul says:

Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:4)

This simply who we are as believers, as the baptised, as disciples. There is a profound reassurance here:

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. (Romans 6:5)

Even more eloquently, in Romans 8, the apostle writes:

If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you. (Romans 8:11)

This is our hope. On account of that highly personal reassurance, we are free inside ourselves to commit, free to love, free to hope and free to serve.

Conclusion
The poem by George Herbert began as follows, with ringing internal rhymes:

RIse heart; thy Lord is risen.  Sing his praise
                                                  Without delayes,
Who takes thee by the hand, that thou likewise
                                                  With him mayst rise

It closes on a high note of even greater confidence:

Can there be any day but this,
Though many sunnes to shine endeavour?
We count three hundred, but we misse:
There is but one, and that one ever.

Happy Easter, everyone. Christ is risen! He is truly Risen!