Live As Unleavened Bread

     Alleluia, He is Risen! Happy Easter to all of you! I hope you all were able to have a relaxing weekend filled with joy. This is the first year that my family has not participated in "traditional" Easter celebrations involving candy and a fluffy pastel bunny. Instead of attending morning mass, my family decided to go to the 5:00pm mass. I love 5:00pm mass, but I always associate it with a "regular Sunday," not Easter Sunday. I felt like Easter was missing something. There was no mention of dying eggs, hiding candy, or buying a new floral dress. Easter was missing its sparkle. In my eyes, Easter was missing what made it special, the show!
     I was assigned to lector the 2nd reading, so I was practicing it in the back minutes before mass started. I thought to myself, "Well, at least the reading will be exciting!" I assumed it would be some beautifully written excerpt from scripture that joyfully proclaimed the resurrection of our Lord. Imagine my surprise when I was faced with nine lines talking about bread. Yeah, bread. As in, the stuff they serve at a restaurant before you get your real food. You have got to be kidding me.
     I walked down from the ambo after reading what I interpreted to be a super lame 2nd reading and waited for the gospel. My pouty mood was made a bit better after hearing the gospel and I was so ready to hear the homily that was to follow. You should have seen the look on my face when Fr. Tom walked up to the front of the altar and started talking about none other than the 2nd reading... the bread. "Fr. Tom, what are you doing?!" I thought to myself as he began to preach about the qualities of yeast and how it scientifically makes dough rise and blah blah blah.
     Then, he said something that caught my attention. Most of us know where yeast comes from now. It's a product of fermentation which happens when we leave things lying out. (It develops on fruits and vegetables that have started to rot). In Jesus' time however, bakers didn't know this exactly. They did know however, that if they added a bit of the old batch of dough to the new batch, it would cause the bread to rise. (The yeast had developed in the old batch that had been left lying out and caused the bread to rise when added to the new batch of dough).
     The 2nd reading instructs us to celebrate the sacrifice of Christ with unleavened bread. What a great party food right? Yeah, no, so gross. But, it makes sense! Leavened bread, although fluffy and delicious, gets its "sparkle" and "show" from the addition of old and yucky bacteria. Jesus Christ has risen from the dead! I don't want to celebrate such a joyous occasion by eating the old stuff, I want everything new! That, my dear friends, is the meaning of this very odd reading.
     Jesus, through His death and resurrection, has brought us a new way of life. He has given us a life free from the captivity of sin and death. Forget about our old lives, our old batches of dough. We should embrace this new life! It may not have the same "sparkle" and "show" of an Easter egg hunt, a new floral dress, or a fluffy loaf of bread... but, it is so much better.