The Easter season is upon us   In churches everywhere  “alleluias” are rising to the rafters Sunday after Sunday.  We proclaim, “Jesus raised from the dead” and add, “So will I.”   Easter provides us with this wonderful consolation of hope.  Whether from ashes, or buried deep in the ground-we will rise up and be with Jesus in heaven.    That’s the most comforting thought surrounding the Easter mystery.  But do we have to wait for this to happen?  Can it happen now?  Can we experience in this life a taste of resurrection? I think we can.  Here’s an example.  Recently a teary eyed homeless woman stopped me, sobbing and crying.   Through her weeping, she related how badly her knees ached from the dampness left by the rain of the last few weeks.  Hardly able to walk, she dragged her suitcase and a large green garbage bag full of odds and ends.

While stumbling along she said a gentleman (her words) approached her and asked  if he could help. She told him of her need to get to the Church at the top of  the hill for lunch, but couldn’t make it. He immediately offered to carry her bags.

With that she began crying again saying, “ no one ever offered to carry my bags and sobbed all the more!”  She then added: “That gentleman did the nicest thing anyone ever did for me!”  Then she looked at me and asked: “Do you think it was Jesus? “ 

I immediately said, “Yes,” because doing good deeds for others the Risen Jesus lives through us.  Each of us belongs to the Body of Christ.   When we act like Christ to a homeless person or anyone needing love and care, Jesus is fully alive once again.  And when others see us acting like Christ, they shout like the disciples in the Gospel  “we saw Jesus he has risen.”  And the Easter Mystery is solved.  Now that’s reason enough to shout “alleluia” throughout the entire Easter season.