Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord

Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb. She ran and went to Simon Peter and said: they have taken the Lord from the tomb.

Mary Magdalene goes to the tomb while it is still dark. She does not wait for light. She does not wait for company. She goes because love does not calculate safety or timing. Love goes to the tomb in the dark because the beloved is there.

She finds it empty and runs to tell Peter and John. They run to the tomb. John arrives first, waits. Peter barges in. John follows, sees the burial cloths folded neatly, and believes. But it was Mary who went first. It was Mary who brought the news. The first evangelist of the Resurrection was a woman.

Sister, that is your inheritance. The Church's first witness. The first person to carry the Easter message. Not because she was assigned the task, but because she loved him enough to go to the tomb in the dark. Your faithfulness - the quiet, persistent, unglamorous kind of faithfulness that shows up before dawn with nothing but love and spice jars - is the foundation of the Church's witness.

The folded cloths are worth noticing. The tomb was not ransacked. It was vacated in order. The one who lay there rose calmly, set things in place, and left. Death did not overpower him. He overcame it with the quiet authority of someone who has somewhere to be.

Colossians says: if you were raised with Christ, seek what is above. Think of what is above, not of what is on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Your life is hidden with Christ. That is an extraordinary promise. Not lost. Not forgotten. Hidden - kept safe, stored in a place no one can reach, waiting to be revealed in glory.

Everything you have carried this Lent - every fast, every sacrifice, every prayer, every silent act of faithfulness - is hidden with Christ. It is not lost. It is kept. And today it is caught up in the Resurrection, because the Christ who rose from the dead carries everything you entrusted to him.

Today is the feast. Celebrate it fully. Set the beautiful table. Gather the people you love. Let the alleluia ring through the house.

And sometime today, do what Mary did: carry the news. Tell someone. Not a lecture or a theological argument - just the joy. Call the friend who has been struggling. Text the sister who drifted. Say the words out loud: he is risen. The first person to say it was a woman. You are in her line. Say it today.

Lord, he is risen. You are risen. Mary went to the tomb in the dark because she loved you, and she was the first to know. I love you too. I have gone to the tomb. I have found it empty. I will carry the news today. He is risen. Alleluia. Amen.