Easter Joy

He is risen!

He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

This traditional Catholic Easter greeting and response has some ancient roots. Many years ago my eighth-grade teacher, a Dominican sister, told her class that this greeting is simply another form of the greeting of the angel when Mary Magdalene and the other women arrived at the tomb to find it empty. As we read in Matthew, the angel told them: “He is not here; for He has risen” [Mt 28:6].

How often, today, do we hear this greeting, among family, between friends, and even between strangers who might meet on the street on Easter? Unfortunately, it’s a rare thing to be greeted in this wonderful way. And yet, one doesn’t have to go back too many years to find a time when such greetings were commonplace. I know for certain that many of the parents and grandparents of people my age would extend this or a similar Easter greeting to anyone they encountered on this holiest of days. 

Too often today — and I’m as guilty as any — we simply say “Happy Easter!” This, of course, is the semi-secular greeting least likely to offend. I suppose it can be just as applicable to the Easter bunny as it is to the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. I’ll admit, though, even this greeting can sometimes have an unexpected positive outcome. Yesterday, as I took my receipt from the checker at a local supermarket, I said, “Happy Easter!” She looked up at me, surprised and smiling, and responded with, “Happy Easter to you too.” So I’m really not going to criticize anyone for saying, “Happy Easter!” But I still believe we will have lost something, something very precious, if we abandon the ancient greeting of “He is risen!” The world needs to be reminded of the fact of the Resurrection. It is our greatest source of hope, the hope of eternal life in a world seemingly trapped in so much despair. Let the hope-filled words of the angel echo in our families, our communities, and throughout the entire world today. Today and every Easter let everyone you meet know the Good News of the Gospel: 

He is risen!  He is risen indeed! Alleluia!