April 15, 2020
by Jay Carney
Creighton University's Theology Department
click here for photo and information about the writer

Celebrating Easter

Finding Hope in the Easter Season

Easter Joy in Everyday Life

Weekly Guide for Daily Prayer

As today’s readings remind us, Easter week should be a time of celebration. I cannot help but smile at the image of the man in Acts “walking and jumping and praising God”! Today’s gospel ends with a scene of rejoicing as Cleopas and his brother disciple rush to confirm the women’s astounding news of Jesus’ resurrection. Basking in the glow of Easter Sunday, we should all be joining the Psalmist’s cry to “Rejoice, O hearts that seek the Lord!”

And yet I don’t think I’m alone this week in struggling to rejoice. Rather, the line that resonates most with me is Luke 24:17: “They stopped, looking downcast.” In the face of the coronavirus pandemic, our global society has ground to a halt. Thousands have died; millions are sick; billions are sheltering in their own upper rooms. Churches are shuttered, and this during the holiest week of the Christian year. At this remarkable moment in human history, we are all looking downcast, and for good reason.

Jesus’ resurrection does not eliminate pandemics, nor suffering, nor the needy lying at the “Beautiful Gates” of our own homes and churches. What the resurrection should do, however, is give us the grace to discern and the courage to respond. Following Peter and John, how are we called to assist those who are crippled today, those locked down in their homes? Like the Emmaus disciples, how are we called to extend hospitality to our families, our neighbors, and even the strangers in our midst? In the time of COVID-19, answers to these questions will require careful discernment; we may find our hearts “burning within us” in a desire to do more. But we trust that small acts of outreach and healing open space for God’s transforming spirit to rush in. Whether in our homes, our neighborhoods, or our virtual villages, may Christ be revealed to us this Easter season in the breaking of the bread.