This past year, the world of music and literature lost an iconic figure: Montreal’s very own Leonard Cohen. Though Jewish by birth, he was strongly influenced by Buddhism, and often used explicitly Christian images in his songs. Consider these lyrics from “Show Me The Place”:

The initial Easter experience was the discovery of the empty tomb. Only later did the disciples encounter the Risen Christ. To properly celebrate the Resurrection, we also must go through the drama of our passion, the grief and emptiness of our tombs. When we dare to do this, we begin to see that pattern of death and resurrection at the base of all reality, implanted there by God. This pattern – etched into creation and into the human condition, revealed supremely to us in the life, death and Resurrection of Jesus – is also the pattern of our own lives. We live and breathe, we work and love, we struggle and suffer, we die and rise again. But we don’t do this alone. We can’t roll away the stone by ourselves. We need help.

Jesus, raised up by the Father, is triumphant over death! Death no longer has the final word. The particular details of our experience don’t change because of the Resurrection: we continue to work, to struggle, to suffer, to doubt, to believe, to hope, to love and be loved. However, the horizon against which we understand our life changes profoundly: the Resurrection invites us to grow in trust that God is at work in the world, that love can triumph over hatred, that we can dare to embrace new hope. Easter hope!!

In the fourth century, the great Church Father St. Augustine wrote: “We are an Easter people, and Alleluia is our song!” Sixteen centuries later, the prophet Leonard Cohen proclaimed in his anthem “Hallelujah”: ”There's a blaze of light in every word, It doesn't matter which you heard, The holy or the broken Hallelujah! (…) And even though it all went wrong, I'll stand before the Lord of song, With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah!”

As we courageously face our empty tombs, may the Risen Christ grant us a saving encounter with the new life he promises: Christ is risen, Alleluia! Truly He is risen, Alleluia!