WORD ALIVE

Christ’s rising from death is the Father’s seal of approval on his life and work. As St. Paul puts it, “If Christ has not risen, in vain is our preaching and your believing in it” (Read 1 Cor 15,13).

In other words, faith in God, our prayers, our striving to do good would all be useless if Christ had not risen from death. As St. Paul puts it, “If He did not rise, let’s just eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die."

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Consciously or otherwise, this is the epicurean philosophy of some people today. They say: “Life is short. Enjoy it to the maximum since there’s nothing to look forward to after death.”

An atheist who has this thinking or one who does not believe in Christ’s teachings is like a man who, when he dies, is smartly dressed in the coffin but nowhere to go! But Jesus’ teaching on life after death is clear and categorical.

At the Last Supper, he said: “In my Father’s house there are many mansions… I go ahead and prepare a place for you.”

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Easter is not just a remembrance or re-enactment of something that happened more than 2,000 years ago but is something present.

The death of Christ, for example, should teach and induce us to die to our old self. Thus, the man who struggles to give up drinking, gambling, womanizing, and wrongdoings exemplifies Christ’s rising to a new life. 

Moreover in the family, there is the challenge to rise to a new life. For an estranged couple, for instance, it can mean rising from the depth of their problem and starting all over again.

“You mean, I should forget everything – all the cheating, the womanizing my husband has done in the past?” an aggrieved wife might say.

Yes, if the offending spouse is sincerely sorry and wants to start anew, then Christian forgiveness is demanded, in the very spirit that Christ forgave his enemies on the cross.

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Lest we forget, the life of every follower of the Risen Christ should be animated by the spirit of joy, optimism and hope.

Pope Francis said, “They think that being Christian means being in perpetual mourning.” The jovial Pope adds that “an ambassador for the faith must never look like someone who’s just come back from a funeral.”

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A sense of humor does not mean you’re always cracking jokes.              

It means that no matter how serious your problem may be, you do not lose hope, confident that somehow God will see you through.

As the great Saint Augustine puts it: “Work as if everything depends on you and pray as if everything depends on God.”   

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Easter quips.  The first person who saw Jesus was a woman, Mary. As somebody said, “If you want your message to travel fast, send through a telephone, if you want it faster, send by cell phone; if you want it fastest, tele-woman!”

That’s not always the case. Some men can spread “tsismis” fastest, too.

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Did you know that Jesus’ tomb was borrowed from a wealthy Jew named Joseph of Arimathea? And why did He rise on the third day (Sunday)?

Answer: Since the grave was borrowed only for the weekend, Jesus had to vacate it otherwise He would have been evicted!

Of course, that was not the real reason. Rather He wanted to prove that He would rise as He promised and everything He said was true.

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If you party in hell in this world, you will be the barbeque!

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A blessed Easter to all!