It was very early in the first day if the week, and still dark, when Mary of Magdala came to the tomb.  She saw that the stone had been moved from the tomb and came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved.  They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, she said, and we dont know where they have put him. So Peter set out with the other disciple to go to the tomb. They ran together, but the other disciple, running faster than Peter, reached the tomb first; he bent down and saw the linens lying on the ground, but did not go in.  Simon Peter, following him, also came up, went into the tomb, and saw the linen cloths lying on the ground, together with the cloth that had been over his head; this was not with the linen cloths but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in; he saw and he believed. Till this moment they still had not understood the scripture, that he must rise from the dead.

Introductory Prayer: Lord, you rose from the dead for me, so that I may be with you forever. Help me to experience the reality and joy of the Resurrection - to see the stone rolled away from the empty tomb - so that I may live the Resurrection united to you, believing that with you I can do all things.

Petition: Lord, change my life through the power of the Resurrection.

1. "The Stone Had Been Moved Away from the Tomb." Christ is alive. If God is with us, who is against us? St Paul asked. Christ is alive for me; he died so that we may live. The cross is not the end. Looking at the cross without seeing the Resurrection is like living without hope. Christ came to give us hope, and it is this hope that we experience when we see the stone rolled away from the tomb, knowing that he conquered even death.

2. "Death, Where Is Your Sting?" If we have been joined to him by dying a death like his, so we shall be given life again by a resurrection like his; realizing that our former self was crucified with him, so that the self which belonged to sin should be destroyed and we should be freed from the slavery of sin (Romans 6:5-6). Christ rose from the dead so as to roll the stone away from our tomb, to erase our sin, to usher in grace and virtue. He rose from the dead so that we may have the grace to conquer our pride and vanity, our sloth and laziness, so as to be forever with him. Now all things are new. With Christ we have conquered death. Death, where is your victory? Death, where is your sting? (Romans 15:55)

3. "He Saw, and He Believed." Christ's Resurrection is more than a fact that we celebrate; it is something we believe in deeply. Its a belief in which we commend our entire selves to God - mind, heart, will, and soul, submitting all of our faculties to him (cf. Dei Verbum, 5). Johns encounter with the linens in the tomb changed his life from within, and the Resurrection has the power to do the same in our own lives. Belief in the Resurrection is more than just accepting that Christ rose from the dead. I have to make an effort in my own life to believe in what it can do for me, that I too can be transformed, that I too can be recognizable to others as one now living a life of virtue and not of sin. Like St Paul I too can say, "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me" (Galatians 2:20).

Conversation: Lord Jesus, you rose from the dead, and I want to rise with you. I want this celebration of your Resurrection to be one where I change, where I roll the stone back from the tomb of my life so as to change and be more like you, living as I ought. With you I can do all things, and I believe that this Easter can make a difference in my life.

Questionnaire:

1. What in my life keeps the stone from being moved: Pride? Fear? Laziness?

2. What must I change in my life so as to rise with the Lord?

3. What can I do to live as one who believes in the Resurrection?