Did you notice where the gospel ended today? It didn’t feel like the conclusion of other stories, did it? We didn’t hear the words “…and they lived happily ever after”!

Instead, at the Easter Vigil, the gospel ended, “Their story seemed like nonsense, and they did not believe them. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb, bent down, and saw the burial cloths alone; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.” Hardly the happy ending we might have expected.

Then this morning we hear John’s account ending with the words: “For they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead.” Sounds like there’s more to happen—more for Mary and for Magdalen, more for Peter and for John.

Maybe that’s the note we need to hit today. It’s so easy to think: “Lent’s over. The family showed up. We had Easter once again. We found our baskets, ate our ham (or our lamb or our kielbasa).” But, if there was more for the holy women and the apostles to do after Easter, there’s probably more for us. What does it mean to us that our God gave his life for us?

What does it mean to us that we’re fed with his broken Body, his outpoured Blood? What does it mean that we will live forever?

These are tremendous questions. They’re almost as heavy to shift in our minds as that huge stone across that grave was. But those questions shape our lives, they offer us meaning, they provide a future filled with truth and beauty and goodness.

Don’t stop today! St Augustine said we are an Easter people and “alleluia” is our song. Live joyfully, live thoughtfully, live generously. Learn to be that Easter people.