The message of Easter is: the Joy of the Resurrection Renews the Whole World! Christ is risen, Alleluia!
Are those words really true?….“renews the whole world”…really…what is the big deal?
Imagine our Christian faith if it ended with the crucifixion without the reality of the Resurrection of Christ. Good Friday would convey a totally different message. Like many heroic deaths, it might inspire curiosity and sincere admiration and inspiration. It is a good story and script. But it could never bring about true life and joy. Luckily for us, the story doesn’t end with Christ’s sacrifice….it ends with an overflowing of life that comes from God.
Everything has changed with the Resurrection. This is God’s work. This is what He has done. This is the way Psalm 22 ends, not as in the beginning “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” but with the phrase “This is what the Lord has done!” God has the final word. God is the only author of life. And it has been poured into our hearts through Christ’s Resurrection.
This is God’s stamp on all suffering. When united to Christ’s suffering, it produces life and joy because we live out of love for someone who has loved us. God allows us to love Him and out of that love, He has the final word: Life. Joy. Peace.
Our sufferings, difficulties and crosses are not causes for discouragement, emptiness and bitterness. This is what we offer to God and we allow him to act. Our faith is alive, because Christ is alive. Today. We don’t live, love and worship a man who died. We live for someone who is alive and present to us. This is the Good news. This is God’s final word.
This is why Easter, like Christmas, is not just one day in the Catholic Church, but many days, celebrated joyfully throughout the world for the next 50 days. And every Sunday we celebrate the Resurrection. This is the Good News that we celebrate and share by going out and proclaiming with our lives that God is alive. Will you answer God’s call to be renewed by the joy of the Resurrection?
Christ be with you! Happy Easter!
