In the Glorious Light of Easter, Alleluia!
Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory (Col. 3:3-4).
The Resurrection of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is the crowning truth of our faith in Christ. This is the third day of the Paschal Triduum and it is the day that will never end for the Resurrection of Our Lord is our life and our hope of glory. So we sing: This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Our celebration of Paschal Triduum began on Holy Thursday with the evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper during which we contemplated the gift and mystery of the Holy Eucharist, both the pledge of our future glory and the reality upon which we establish our life in Christ. The Eucharist is His Real Presence among us and as such the source and summit of our lives as Catholics. To be authentically Catholic it is absolutely necessary to live an intensely Eucharistic life.
During these three sacred days we have contemplated the Easter mystery, the Paschal Mystery in all its depth and detail. What is set before us during these holy days is the path for the rest of our lives; and each year we return to the source of this path so that we might resolve to tread it with greater determination and purpose. The path is Our Lord Himself and in His Passover He reveals Himself as the Way, Truth and Life, a life that will never end. We have walked with Him to the Cross; and while on earth, the Way of the Cross is a familiar path whether we bear our own cross or help others with theirs.
The journey however ends not in the tomb for the tomb is empty. Christ has risen. His Resurrection is an historical event. The mystery of Christ’s resurrection is a real event, with manifestations that were historically verified, as the New Testament bears witness. In about A.D. 56 St Paul could already write to the Corinthians: ‘I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve…’ [St. Paul is speaking] here of the living tradition of the Resurrection (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 639). We who believe in Christ Our Saviour and Our Risen Lord are part of this living tradition of the Resurrection.
As we live our lives then, we heed the Apostle’s words: Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory (Col. 3:3-4). All that we do and all that we become in this life does not end in the darkness of the grave. Knowing this, we endeavour to live a life hidden with Christ in God. This means that we live our lives in view of eternity (in specie aeternitatis). It means that we have accepted His gift and promise of salvation; that we receive and accept all that He teaches us with docility and gratitude; that we have banished the illusion of moral self-sufficiency and have determined to follow Our Lord in a life of continuous personal conversion to goodness, purity, humility, gentleness, charity, courage, penance, and even to suffering patiently borne out of love for God. This is what faithful disciples of Christ have done throughout our history and they literally transformed the world. This never-ending work begins in the intimacy of our own hearts first and foremost. This is why in the renewal of our baptismal vows our response of faith is a very personal I do.
Our Lenten penance and sacrifices have been a preparation for this moment of renewed commitment which though intimately personal, is strengthened by the witness and efforts of our brothers and sisters everywhere who endeavour to walk the path of devout humility in imitation of Our Lord and Our Lady. The renewal of our spirits in the ever-present grace of the Resurrection assures us of a continual renewal of our lives. Authentic Christian life means a life of intense charity and self-giving, both in prayer and good works. Authentic Christian life is a Eucharistic life because the Eucharist makes present God’s love poured out for us on the Cross and the new and eternal life of the Resurrection.
As we begin the fifty days of Easter, may our celebration of the Paschal mysteries make us always conscious of the power of Christ’s Resurrection at work in our lives. It is by this power that we also will overcome the darkness of death and all the powers of darkness at present oppressing the Church. All that we are and all that we become in life does not end with the darkness of the grave. Our Saviour has done away with death and so we rejoice in the knowledge that we will also live with him. (Rom. 6:8). Let us then renew our Christian commitment to live in Christ, for the choice we make determines who we are and what we are; and, what we become now and in eternity. In union with Our Lord, let us offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, [our] true and proper worship (Rom. 12:1).
In union with Our Lady, our Mother and Model in discipleship we rejoice in the truth of the Resurrection and we endeavour to live by the radiance of this truth. So we set [our] minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for [we] have died, and [our] life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is [our] life is revealed, then [we] also will be revealed with him in glory (Col. 3:3-4). So we are not afraid but confident that God Our Father is serenely accomplishing the work of human salvation, planned from all eternity. May our faithful witness especially in this time of trial enable the whole world to know and see that what was cast down is raised up…and that all things are restored to integrity through Christ, just as by Him they came into being (Collect after the Seventh Reading, The Easter Vigil, The Roman Missal).
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