HAPPY Easter to
all! Christ is truly risen, never to die
again. We are now a new creation. Sin and death have been
conquered by
Christ’s cross.
We have reason
to be happy and hopeful, no matter how dark
our earthly situations may be. We have to remember,
though, that our
own resurrection in Christ always has to pass through the
cross,
through suffering.
Our death is
not forever. Our pain and sorrow here are
emptied of their sting. With Christ’s resurrection, we
have hope of
the kind that does not defraud. Sadness should not stay
with us for
long.
All this
translates to the truth that Easter is the
celebration of our new, redeemed life in Christ in the
Spirit. It’s
not just human life—biological, physical, professional,
social, etc.
It is supernatural life, the life really meant for us.
Let’s be more
conscious of this wonderful albeit demanding truth.
This is the
life that can contend with any situation in
our earthly affairs. It has the capacity to go beyond
death, beyond
sin. It has tremendously healing, strengthening and
purifying powers.
For this to
happen, we have to follow Christ. Of course,
not only in the physical or emotional sense. We follow
him through
faith, hope and charity, supernatural virtues that
connect us vitally
with him.
We follow him
when we cling to his teaching, now the
doctrine also of his Church. When we assimilate his
teaching and make
it our own, we unite ourselves with his will. We will be
in the same
wavelength with him.
We follow him
when we avail ourselves of the sacraments,
his continuing presence and action. Christ continues to
live on.
Precisely he resurrected. Death has no dominion over him.
And though
he already sits on the right hand of his father, he makes
himself
easily available to us. He in fact wants to enter our
life.
We follow him
when we make ourselves active and living
members of his Church, allowing ourselves to be governed
pastorally by
his ministers, the clergy and the hierarchy, from the
Pope down to the
last priest and deacon. Christ leads us through them.
We need to have
the necessary dispositions to achieve all
these requirements for following Christ. We need to be
humble, docile
and obedient, completely free and responsible which
should go together
always.
And given the
complicated conditions of our life today, we
have to be shrewdly prudent. We need to have the prudence
of the
spirit, never of the flesh, no matter how attractive the
latter tries
to make itself up.
In our
political life, we need to be very discerning in
choosing our leaders. If we truly live the spirit of
Easter, then we
have to choose leaders who are clearly pro-life, not
pro-death nor
anti-life.
We may have
varying opinions—valid and with their
advantages and disadvantages—with respect to purely
political,
economic and social issues. In these issues, we have to
learn to
dialogue civilly, respecting one another’s opinions.
But when it
comes to matters of faith and morals, like
what the life issues are all about, then we should try to
choose what
promotes life over death, what favors true good over
attractive evil,
doing this always with charity.
Anti-life
politicians, simply put, are those who are for
extra-judicial killings, contraception, divorce,
abortion, same-sex
unions, immoral family planning methods, etc.
Since many of
these anti-life politicians usually crow
that they are actually for life, then we have to examine
whether they
follow truly Christ. Thus we have to see how closely they
follow
Christ’s doctrine, his sacraments, and his Church.
We have to be
wary of politicians’ and ideologues’
charming ways. We have to assess their views and
positions according
to the sure touchstones of prudence.
This is, of
course, a very delicate task. It should be
done with utmost respect for freedom and in utmost
charity. This is
because the truth can only be properly affirmed and
defended in
charity.
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