The Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the most beautiful and important event in all of human history!
Without it, Jesus’ mission was an abject failure, we are trapped in our sins and bereft of any hope for eternal life!
Our entire faith rests on the conviction that the Lord rose from the dead on Easter Sunday and so we celebrate this most holy solemnity with joy, love, and thanksgiving.
If the Lord Jesus has not been raised, then our hopes, dreams, work, love, and relationships pertain to this world and this life only.
In such a dark scenario, all would end with our death and fade into the nothingness of eternal separation from God.
This sad despair and inherent meaninglessness would haunt us with the cruel sense of being trapped in a dystopian nightmare, devoid of light and life.
I find it fruitful to ponder regularly what my life would be without Christ and His saving death and Resurrection in order to better appreciate what I have been saved from and whom I have been saved for.
A vision of hope
In this Jubilee Year, Pope Francis has offered us the encouraging theme of Hope, a vision that looks beyond the veil of this world into the life and glory of the Kingdom of Heaven.
Knowing that God has definitively conquered the power of sin and death forever enables us to trust, persevere, forgive, and sacrifice as Catholic disciples of the risen Lord.
We can face any darkness, defeat, failure, sin, or grief with peaceful resolution and persevering hope because no negative force or experience has the final word on us.
Cracow, Poland, was the site of World Youth Day in 2016.
Along with 90 young people from the Diocese of Gary and more than a million other pilgrims, I was blessed to be there.
As this remarkable week drew to a close, we trekked out to a field on a Saturday morning in blisteringly hot sunshine where we would sleep outside overnight and finish the following day with a papal Mass.
Pope Francis came that evening to speak with us, and then the largest Eucharistic host I have ever seen was set upon the altar.
As the sun descended and the shadows lengthened, more than a million of us knelt and prayed in that field in a supreme silence before the risen Lord.
In that moment, I realized we were kneeling on ground made holy by the blood of martyrs.
The Nazis had come to this place, murdering millions of Jews and other victims, seeking to destroy the truth of God and the dignity of the human person.
But the Nazis were gone and here we were, more than a million Catholics Adoring the Lord.
The Soviets came after the Nazis, intent on crushing the Church and all practice of religion with a violent and bloody evil. But the Soviets were gone and there we were!
In that sacred moment, I understood that love always wins, which is simply another way of saying that Christ always wins!
In the face of barbaric evil and systematic murder, love often feels weak and fragile, yet it always triumphs in the end.
This victory is the message of Easter!
The meaning of the Resurrection
On the Cross, Jesus never looked less powerful, less consequential, or more defeated.
Yet, in that terrible moment, He was never more free, more effective, and more salvific.
The Resurrection confirms the meaning of the Crucifixion and shows forth the power of the Cross as the means by which Jesus Christ restored our lost identity as beloved children of God, offered the forgiveness of sins to the human race, and won a place in heaven for us.
If we are serious about holiness, faithful to the practice of our religion, seeking to rise above our sins and place the Lord at the center of our life, we trust that through the Divine Mercy poured forth from the pierced side of the crucified Christ, we will live and reign forever in the Kingdom of God.
This promise, solemnly made to us by the Lord Himself, is the source of our hope and joy as we celebrate the wonder of Easter once again.
A joyous and blessed Easter to all of you!
The Lord Jesus has been raised from the dead and we are glad indeed!