“Rejoice, heavenly powers! Sing, choirs of angels! Exult, all creation around God’s throne! Jesus Christ, our King, is Risen! Sound the trumpet of salvation!”

These words, the beginning of the Exultet, the sung proclamation which initiates the solemn Vigil of the Resurrection, bring delight to the heart. Rejoice, sing, exult. Jesus Christ, our King, is Risen! Alleluia.

Having just completed the Triduum at the Cathedral my heart is filled with renewed wonder at the mysteries which we have just celebrated. For me the Holy Father’s Encyclical, Spe Salvi, served as a most appropriate backdrop for each of the days of the Triduum. I found myself reflecting on the hope of the people of Jesus’ day as He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, a sign which the people took as a proclamation of His intention to establish His “kingdom.” They were eager and hopeful for that “kingdom,” or at least for their vision of what that “kingdom” would or should be. Certainly a man who could multiply loaves and fishes, change water into wine, heal the sick, mend broken bodies, cast out demons and bestow forgiveness would make a marvelous king. The people were exultantly eager for just such a king and they genuinely hoped, on that original Palm Sunday, that the day of that king had come. But that for which they hoped was not to be, at least, not in the fashion which they hoped and imagined. Disillusioned, those who greeted Him with such exuberance on Sunday were nowhere to be found on Friday.

The Apostles, too, possibly shared in a bit of that all too limited hope. Perhaps they saw in the proclamation of Jesus at the Last Supper, the proclamation that the cup He consecrated, was the cup of the new and everlasting covenant, the hope that some marvelous, uplifting and salvific event was about to take place. They would have been correct, of course, but again not in the fashion in which they had hoped or imagined. So filled were they with this “false hope” that when Jesus predicts the betrayal by Judas and the denial by Peter all of the Apostles declare their unwavering fidelity to the Lord. Theirs, however, was only an unwavering fidelity to their own false construct of what the Savior was to be and do. They had set their hearts on a false hope, a limited and meager hope. In retrospect we see how meager was their hope. For them, however, that in which they hoped seemed to be the very best that they could imagine.

This context of the limited and false hope which the Apostles and the inhabitants of Jerusalem had for Jesus perhaps helps us understand the utter devastation caused by the events of Good Friday. For the Apostles it was not only the loss of one whom they loved it was also the loss of all that they thought He would be and do. For them, when Jesus died, hope died. They were devastated but perhaps they were also embarrassed at having been so easily deceived. Perhaps they felt duped and perhaps, as grief sometimes does, a bit angry. This is their state Friday night, all day Saturday and into the early hours of Sunday morning.

Then news. Not yet good news, but news nonetheless. Some women had gone to the tomb and found the stone rolled back and the tomb empty.

Now the world of Peter and the other Apostles begins to be turned completely upside down. Running to the tomb with incredulity and wonder and fear and puzzlement and confusion and, perhaps, although unlikely, just a bit of hope Peter and John see for themselves that about which they had heard. The stone was rolled back and the tomb was empty. The news was true but what did it mean. They soon discovered that it meant everything in the world. It meant the greatest Good News that had ever been proclaimed. It meant, how difficult for them to formulate the thought much less the words, it meant that He who was crucified and died was risen from the dead. Now the devastated hope is seen, by comparison, to be no hope at all. Now all of those meager hopes pale to relative insignificance. The women came to the tomb on Sunday hoping to find someone to remove the stone so they could complete the embalming procedures for the body of Jesus. Their hopes were quite limited. Peter and John ran to the tomb perhaps hoping to find out who took the body of Jesus and where they put Him. In retrospect a very meager hope. In reality none of the pre-resurrection things for which the people, the women or the Apostles hoped had any power effectively to alter their lives. As Peter discovered that for which he hoped prior to the Resurrection was not great enough to justify a full commitment of his life. It was not “a life-changing or life-sustaining hope.” (Spe Salvi, 10)

The Resurrection changes all of that! Rejoice, sing, exult. Jesus Christ, our King, is Risen! Alleluia. Now Peter and John, the Apostles, the women and the people of God have a hope which justifies every effort and commitment. Pope Benedict states at the beginning of his Encyclical: “Redemption is offered to us in the sense that we have been given hope, trustworthy hope, by virtue of which we can face our present: the present, even if it is arduous, can be lived and accepted if it leads towards a goal, if we can be sure of this goal, and if this goal is great enough to justify the effort for the journey.” (Spe Salvi, 1)

At Easter we renew our Baptismal commitment which is really a renewed commitment to that in which we can and must hope. I pray that as we make and consider again that commitment we are lifted far beyond our limited and meager hopes and find that singular goal which is great enough to justify the effort for the journey. I pray that the Christian faith, our hope in the Resurrection of the Lord, be for us today, as it was for the Apostles, a life-changing and life-sustaining hope which shapes our lives in a new way.

“Rejoice, heavenly powers! Sing, choirs of angels! Exult, all creation around God’s throne! Jesus Christ, our King, is Risen! Sound the trumpet of salvation!” Rejoice, sing, exult. Jesus Christ, our King, is Risen and now all is turned upside down! Alleluia.