Easter Sunday is a day on which we rest after the 40 days of Lent and the celebration of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and the Easter Vigil. In the Gospel of the Mass of Easter Day, however, there is no resting.

There is, of course, the raising of Jesus from the dead. But notice how everyone seems to be running. Mary of Magdala runs to tell Simon Peter and the disciple whom Jesus loved some startling news. They in turn run to the tomb, perhaps trying to outpace one another. Even though they run together, the beloved disciple arrives first. But then he stands aside so that Peter, his senior, can enter the tomb before him. Peter then invites John to come into the tomb. Together they saw and believed.

Did they in turn run to tell others the good news? Surely they didn't just stand there!

Their world was ended by the brutal and violent death of an innocent man. The beloved disciple had witnessed this firsthand just days before. It is likely that the beloved was still reeling from the sheer horror of the broken body of Jesus. He now hears from a woman that this unspeakable horror is not the end of the story. His response was not to stand still in a state of puzzlement. He runs. Not alone, but with another.

There are different ways of running. Some run in fierce determination like the athlete runs for the Olympic gold. We can run with stop-and-go uncertainty, with hesitation. We run at top speed driven by fear. Children and adolescents sometimes threaten to run away from home. Adults often run from something or someone we dislike. Or we can run toward and for something or someone in joyful anticipation, as do the three in this Gospel for the Mass of Easter Day.

Their world was shattered by the events of a Friday now called "Good." It was anything but good for those affected by the death-by-violence of the One whose life was filled with such promise. In much the same way, on our streets and in our neighborhoods lives are shattered by the deaths of innocent people resulting from the rivalry between gangs, the tensions between races and classes that ends in violence inflicted not only on rivals but also on the innocent. What is our response to violence and needless suffering such as this? The first reaction, of course, is to run. Fast.

There is another way. It involves acceptance of the hard truth that evil and violence do not win when the innocent die, even at the hands of the violent. Evil and violence only win when they give rise to more evil and violence. Goodness triumphs when the cycle of hatred and violence is broken, even and especially when everything in us wants the other to pay for the violence they have inflicted on us or on those we love. Such love is the only power that can prevail over all evil.

Can we run in a world shattered by tragedy, when we are drowning in pain? When our days are wrapped in darkness, loneliness and fear, can we run not from, but toward and for? Do we have the courage to enter the darkness of unspeakable loss? If we heed the Good News this Easter, it is into that bleak world of hatred and violence that we are to run, breathless with Good News and willing to risk it all to bring hope to those who have none.

Little did the Magdalene, the Rock and the Beloved realize on that first day of the week, as they came away from a troubled and restless sleep --- haunted by the nightmare of that terrifying Friday --- that they would be given the unexpected and overwhelming joy of waking from that nightmare of violence and brutality, and greeted by the new life of a never-ending dawn.

May our Risen Lord fill our hearts and lives with renewed grace and strength so that we might truly be His instruments of hope, encouragement, and peace in a world so desperate for these gifts of new life!