Easter came in March this year, earlier than any Easter in memory, dished up Chicago style with 3-4 inches of snow. It’s not the first Easter to “enjoy” snow. I’m sure our Mom & Dad can remember at least a couple of those Easters that fell in April (oh yeah, folks, we’re not out of the woods yet) when the Easter bonnets were tied down with scarves and it did not matter that you did not have good shoes for Easter morning mass-you had your six-buckle snowboots on.
Looking back, I’m sure it was a rough job to get our gang out of bed, put clothes on our back, wipe our collective noses and get us to church on time … all on the same Easter morning, no matter what the weather.
But the message we heard in those days (if we were paying attention) is the same one we hear today. On that morning when Jesus’ disciples arrived at the tomb, they saw that “someone” had rolled away the rock, which took three or four of them to roll into place to prevent the further desecration of Jesus’ body. Even these guys, who had witnessed Jesus’ miracles before he was crucified, still could not fathom that their Jesus, in his Resurrection had indeed rolled away his own rock, thus symbolizing His rebirth to the world and gives us that special feeling each Easter.
The human side of Jesus was probably a little upset that these guys still didn’t get it. So He hung around another 40 days to try to get His message across to them. “Can you hear Me now?” But they were average guys, just like us, and we always don’t get it the first time around.
But that phrase, “Roll away the rock,” really struck me this year. Other than being a potentially great title to a rock song, it is a great mantra for our own rebirth at this time of year as we look eagerly toward spring.
Roll away the rock blocking whatever it is in our own mind that is “preventing” us from being all that we should be. Remove all the excuses, avoid the delay. If there is something you’ve been meaning to do … do it! Make a list and knock off as many as you can. Roll it away!
None of us know how many springtimes are ahead of us because none are guaranteed. So make this particular spring special and roll away your own rock-even if you need a snow shovel to do it.
Michael Tobin
Oak Park
