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Growing up in an ethnic neighborhood provided a connection to the sort of tradition that is often lost in a culture that has been homogenized over decades. Though I would not attempt to canonize those childhood experiences, they do hold a powerful image of what can be, now and into the future.A case in point was the early Easter Sunday celebration of the Resurrection. Before the restoration of the Easter Vigil in the late fifties, the celebration of Easter at our little Slovenian parish began with a Solemn High Mass at five in the morning. As people entered the church with only a dim light flowing from the choir loft, they were greeted with the strong aroma of lilies and the subtle awareness of the absence of Lenten coverings over the statues.The elderly pastor and two associates, vested for Mass, were seen as shadows moving slowly across the sanctuary to the side altar of St. Joseph. A life-sized tomb had been in place there for the last three days. Since Friday, a statue of the dead Christ lay inside the tomb. Even in the dim light we could see that the tomb was now empty. At that side altar, just behind the tomb, the pastor placed the Blessed Sacrament in a jeweled monstrance. In three short stages from that altar to the center of the sanctuary, the pastor chanted three elaborate alleluias in an increasing pitch. Each was echoed a cappella by the choir, until the final one when the organ joined in with a trumpet blast. All the while, at the tomb, with the help of the custodian, a statue of the risen Christ triumphantly rose from behind the tomb. The lights of the church burst forth, as children and altar servers led the Eucharistic procession through the church, with the people all joyously singing Kristus Kraljuj, Christ reigns!At the end of the procession, the monstrance with the Blessed Sacrament was placed atop the tabernacle, and the Mass was celebrated Corum Sanctissimo, literally “in the presence of the Most Holy.” Decades later, it’s obvious that, for me and, I suspect, those who participated in that ritual, the experience is as clear as yesterday.In a simpler time, that experience spoke to the people a truth that should be resounding as triumphantly in all our churches on this Easter Sunday. The reality of the resurrection, evidenced by that symbolic ritual, is that the fullness of Christ’s presence in our midst is at the heart of that mystery. The procession of the Eucharistic presence on that Easter morn, was that assembly’s profession of faith that the Risen Christ lives in and among us to this very day.Today, without the theatrics of the slowly rising statue of Christ, our communities of faith acknowledge that the Resurrection is at the heart of our faith in the real presence of Christ in and among us. The Sacred Scriptures proclaimed this Easter give testimony to this fundamental article of faith. Peter tells us that we have been “commissioned to preach to the people and testify” to the Risen Lord’s presence. Paul encourages the Corinthians to be “a little yeast” which “leavens all the dough.” In the Gospel, Matthew, like all the other evangelists, offers Mary of Magdala as our model of being “fearful yet overjoyed,” as we run to carry the good news.This feast is our feast. Just as Christ was raised from the dead, so too, you and I are being raised up yet again to be the presence of Christ moving in and through our world. The Lenten experience centered on our humanity in all its brokenness. That penitential season was preparing us for the celebration of this Easter Triduum. For three days we have been fasting and praying for the transformation that would become, as it were, another Springtime of our faith. Just as nature begins to come to new birth, so our faith, shedding the effects of our Lenten winter, begins to show signs of new life. Our Easter celebration re-energizes us to be Magdalas, proclaiming the Good News that the Risen Lord indeed goes before us where we live, where we will see him.But this time, he will be us. You and I are now the ones, who through our Baptism are “anointed with the Holy Spirit ,” who now go about “doing good works and healing all who are in the grip of the devil,” because “God is with us.” In a symbolic way, that boyhood community gave witness to this faith in an early Easter Sunday ritual.That was then. This is now. The Word and Sacrament speak that same mystery to us today, and perhaps with greater clarity, as we take both Word and Sacrament to process through our daily lives proclaiming Kristus Kraljuj, Christ reigns!