Only those who intensely lived Lent and Holy Week can celebrate Easter today. Without this preparation Easter is reduced to a one-dimensional and shallow social occasion.
Easter cannot be understood if it is divorced from the passion and death of Jesus Christ. Those who do not look at the Cross as the eloquent symbol of the love of God for humanity cannot fathom the depth of the Easter mystery. On Good Friday the cross is seen through Jesus' cry before he died: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Many times we feel this cry as our 'own' in difficult situations of life, which can cause very profound desolation, create worry and cause uncertainties. In moments of loneliness and distress, which are frequent in our life, the exclamation, "The Lord has abandoned me!" might surge up in the believer's spirit.
In such situations, Christ's Passion offers a new key to understanding. In his Passion, Death and Resurrection, Jesus reveals to us that the final word on human existence is not death, but God's victory over death. It was so in the experience of Jesus and it can be so in the experience of each and every believer.
The experience of Holy Week reminds us all that Christ died for each man and each woman, because the gift of salvation is universal. The Church reflects the face of a crucified God, that does not inspire fear, but communicates only love and mercy. It is not possible to remain indifferent in the face of Christ's sacrifice!
In the spirits of those who take time to contemplate the Lord's Passion, sentiments of profound gratitude rise up spontaneously. In spiritually climbing Calvary with him, we can experience a certain sense of light and joy that emanates from the Resurrection.
Those of us who seriously experienced the spirit of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday must have realised the inseparable continuity that exists between the Passion and the Resurrection. Christ's death carries in itself the seed of the Resurrection.
On Maundy Thursday we commemorated and relived the setting up of the institution of the priesthood as a gift and mystery of love. We also re-enacted the setting up of the Eucharist as the sacrament of God's infinite love for humanity.
On Good Friday during the celebration of the liturgy and the reading of the narration of the Passion we were invited to venerate the Cross as the extraordinary symbol of divine mercy.
As believers we should look at the Crucifix as the only way that gives meaning to human existence. It is the way of total acceptance of the Will of God, and of generous giving of ourselves to our brothers and sisters.
The Church exhorted us to live Holy Saturday as the day of the great silence. This silence was broken late last night during the Easter Vigil. Yesterday evening we joyfully proclaimed Easter and celebrated Jesus' triumph over death, flooding our hearts and minds with joy.
Easter, understood in this perspective, stops being a commemoration of the past but becomes a commitment and a life programme. It is only then that Easter can become a Happy Easter!