Christ Lives!
Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord
Christ lives! This is the great truth that gives full meaning to our faith. Jesus, who died on the cross, has risen. He has defeated death, the power of darkness, sorrow and anguish. The Easter Season is a time of joy. But this joy is not limited to this time of the liturgical year, but actually takes root in the moments of our heart as Christians, because Jesus is alive. His resurrection reveals to us that God does not abandon his own.
The Apostles declare that he manifested Himself with numerous proofs and clear evidence, and many of these men died giving testimony to this truth. Jesus lives. This fills our hearts with joy. This is the great truth that gives meaning to our faith. Jesus who died on the cross, has arisen, has triumphed over pain and death. In Him we find everything. Without Jesus, our faith is empty of meaning. All appearances of the Risen Jesus occur on Sunday, The day of the Lord. It was the dawn of the new creation in Jesus Christ. That is why from the very beginning the new Christians sanctified the start of this day. Jesus did not ascend to heaven immediately after resurrection.
God has Resurrected! exclaimed Peter. The disciples understood the Scriptures and realized that the crucified Jesus had conquered death. So today the disciples of the XXI century can also say that Jesus has given us NEW LIFE. Because he’s the life that gives us life. Jesus Christ has broken the chains of death. Don’t be afraid anymore. It’s true, it’s true … Jesus has risen, and I’m not afraid because you are my light and salvation.
The presence of the Risen
“I am with you always, until the end of the world” (Matthew 28:20). This promise of Christ still heard in the church as a fertile secret of his life and source of hope. Although Sunday is the day of resurrection, not only the memory of a past event, it is a celebration of the living presence of the Risen Lord; in the midst of their
own.
For this presence is proclaimed and lived properly is not enough for all the disciples of Christ who pray individually and commemorate interior, in the recesses of their heart, death and resurrection of Christ. Indeed, those who have received the grace of baptism are not saved only in a personal capacity, but as members of the Mystical Body, which have become part of the People of God. Therefore it is important to gather, to express fully the very identity of the Church, the ekklesia, convened assembly by the Risen Lord who offered his life, “to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad” ( John 11:52).