Saturday of the Octave of Easter
“My strength and courage is the Lord” – so continues the responsorial psalm. Because I have faith that Jesus is truly risen, I have the assurance that he is my strength. He alone can save me. I can look back and see there have been times when he has grasped me by the hand and in his powerful love he has revealed himself. The remembrance of these times encourages me to live a life of thanksgiving.
“I shall not die, but live.” The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the source of my hope: like him I shall one day rise. My death like his is but a passage. I am called to live in happiness forever. This is my ultimate vocation.
This hope makes my life here and now a continual thanksgiving, uniting me with all who give thanks to God. Especially does it unite me with them in and through the Eucharist. Easter is the season of the Eucharist, of thanksgiving because, as I reflect on the Entrance Antiphon: “The Lord brought out his people with joy, his chosen ones with shouts of rejoicing, alleluia.”