Easter 2026
“I have seen the Lord.” John 20:18
Let us hasten to the tomb with Mary Magdalen, where she is disturbed to find it empty. The angel asks her and the two accompanying her why they seek the living among the dead (cf. Luke 24:5). Let us sit with her as she ponders the silence of that first Easter morning and meets the Lord Himself, whom she mistakes for the gardener and does so until He speaks her name. Let us accompany her as she goes immediately to the Apostles to announce, “I have seen the Lord.” What amazement she must have experienced, the muted joy transformed into proclamation!
Let us hasten with Peter and John to sense the Paschal Mystery’s marvelous culmination, the burial cloths lying folded, the tension between shock and belief. In the empty tomb did the prophecy of Ezekiel enter their minds: “Thus says the Lord God, O my people, I will open your graves and have you rise from them!” (Ezekiel 37:12).
Let us enter the Upper Room, where the apostles are locked for fear of arrest. Suddenly our resurrected Lord appears to them saying, “Peace be with you” (John 20:19). Only John was present at the Crucifixion. Peter had denied Jesus three times. Judas had despaired fatally. As best we know, all the others had sought to hide. The first words of our Lord to them are not words of reprimand but of reconciliation and forgiveness. He explains Himself by giving them a commission: “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained” (John 20:22-23).
The Sacraments are born within the Passion, Death, and Resurrection. Beginning with the Sacrament of Penance, God’s forgiveness teaches us how we are to forgive. If God can forgive us, as wretched as we are and guilty of the evil to which we consent, then we can forgive others. The source of this reconciliation is the Paschal Mystery.
In fact, Easter is the climax of the Paschal Mystery. The Passion, Death, and Resurrection merge, as it were, into one victorious, salvific moment. That mystery is the origin of the Sacraments. The Sacraments are born during the Sacred Triduum. The Eucharist finds its origins here, as well as Baptism with Confirmation, Reconciliation, Anointing of the Sick, Marriage, and Priesthood. Through the Sacraments God shares His redemptive life with us. When our Lord commands His apostles to “do this in memory of me” (cf. Luke 22:19), the priesthood is made manifest. When at Calvary the side of our Lord is pierced with a lance, blood and water flow forth (cf. John 19:34) to herald the waters of Baptism and the redemptive Blood of the Eucharist. When on that first Easter night our Lord speaks those words of forgiveness and commission to His apostles (cf. John 20:19, 22-23), the Church is tasked with celebrating forgiveness and bringing this reconciliation to the world.
Mystery here is not meant to be a puzzle. Paschal mystery refers to its inexhaustibility. We never reach the bottom of the well, for the water never stops flowing. We could spend an entire lifetime in contemplation and fail to articulate the mystery’s depth. We would have only scratched the surface of reality.
So, we enter the empty tomb. We join Mary Magdalen in wonder, Peter and John in marveling at the dawn of faith, the Apostles in receiving forgiveness and peace. We are the recipients of the Graces flowing from Sacraments whose origin is the Last Supper, the Sacrifice of Calvary, and the liberation of the Resurrection. To the Body of Christ, we say, “Amen.” At the confession of our sins, we hear, “Go in peace.” In Baptism we share the life of the Trinity. When confirmed, we receive the Holy Spirit’s Seven Gifts. “From His fulness we have all received, grace in place of grace” (John 1:16).
With Mary Magdalen, we say to the world, “I have seen the Lord” (John 20:18).
