Jeanette Renouf

My Dear Friends,

Today, in the Gospel from St. Luke, we have the story of the women going to the tomb and finding it empty. Angels appear and tell them that Jesus has risen. They run to tell the other disciples and are not believed. Perhaps, unfortunately, people today, 2,000 years later, still have difficulty with this fantastic claim, regardless of the gender of the messenger. However, for days afterward, people reported their sightings of this risen Jesus; several experienced him eating with them, giving them final reassurances and teachings. Still, we believe that people who are clearly dead for three days do not rise from the dead. It just doesn’t happen.

Yet, here we are, all these years later and the world has been changed by this outrageous claim. Obviously, something happened. God was at work in this amazing event. This reminds me of a quote from St. Augustine, “Miracles are not contrary to nature, but only contrary to what we know about nature.” We have learned a lot about nature since the Resurrection, but we learn more every day. Maybe we need miracles to believe in Christ, God, the Spirit.

Here we are in Eastertide, having again celebrated this wondrous story of new life. Maybe we have experienced a little of what new life can mean these past two years. We have survived a pandemic and the end of one long war. Certainly, there are still dark days ahead, but we have seen the light before; we know there can be resurrection and new life. This gives us hope in the miracle of Easter and faith to continue our daily journey with Christ.

May you meet the risen Christ today in your life.

Jeanette Renouf