Every once in a while someone who knew my father says to me, "You look like your father."  That thought brings joy to my heart and brings the memory of my father back to me.  I never saw myself as looking like him, but I consider it a great compliment.  More than looking like my father, I am struck and inspired by how he was a simple, hard working man who had a loving heart and attitude.  He knew who he was and what he wanted to be - husband and father. 

During these last weeks of Lent we have been hearing Jesus tell us in the gospels at daily Mass that he and the Father are one.  To know Jesus is to know the Father.  Their unity in love and life made them truly one.  That unity in life and love is why Jesus humbled himself to become one with us in our humanity.  He came to bring us fully into God’s life and love.  On Holy Thursday we were nurtured by his desire to be with his disciples and all of us who believe in him through the Eucharist.  On Good Friday we reflected on his last words on the cross.  In the end as he hung on the cross, only his mother Mary and St. John were present.  Why does he have such great love for us? 

We live in a world where public figures are scrutinized and exposed for their faults.  The only "fault" Jesus had was to believe his love and mercy could transform us into the image we were created to be in the first place.  Jesus knew the joy of his Father.  It is so easy as human beings to give up or lose our fervor when we experience opposition or rejection.  What’s the use!  No one really cares anyway.  The Resurrection we celebrate today tells us that Jesus rose above cynicism, rejection, abandonment, denial, betrayal, injustice and condemnation.  These experiences would surely drain the life out of any of us.  But they did not deter or drain the life of God’s love, goodness and mercy out of Jesus.  We celebrate the Resurrection because Jesus came back to share his new life with us.  He did not come back to deny, condemn, reject or abandon us.  He rose above all of these as well as every other evil and death. 

The question is: "Do we allow Jesus to raise us up with Him?  Do we allow Him to fill us with God’s life and love?"  When we do, we certainly have a new and different outlook on life.  We become more confident in God’s love and live in the image of our Father.  What a compliment and source of strength and inspiration it would be to hear it said, "You look and act just like your heavenly Father! " Jesus did, and through his Resurrection he enables that thought to become a reality for us.  That is what Happy Easter is all about.  That is what we express when we cry out with joyful hearts, Alleluia!  Praise God!  Thank God!  Thank you for giving me the gift of life and inviting me to share in your life and love. 

In speaking about fatherhood in his book, "The Return of the Prodigal Son," Henri Nouwen says, "Spiritual fatherhood has nothing to do with power or control.  It is a fatherhood of compassion.  And I have to keep looking at the father embracing the prodigal son to catch a glimpse of this.  Against my own best intentions, I find myself continually striving to acquire power.  When I give advice, I want to know whether it is being followed; when I offer help, I want to be thanked; when I give money, I want it to be used my way; when I do something good, I want to be remembered....  Can I give without wanting anything in return, love without putting any conditions on my love?  Considering my immense need for human recognition and affection, I realize it will be a lifelong struggle.  But I am also convinced that each time I step over this need and act free of my concern for return, I can trust that my life can truly bear the fruits of God’s Spirit."  It is then that we and others can see that we look just like our Father!  It is then that it is clear that the life of the Resurrected Jesus is coursing through our very being. 

Happy Easter!  Jesus has risen and so can we! 

Father Walden