The joy of Easter

YES, we have every reason to be most happy when we

celebrate the resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Let’s hope that

when we greet each other, ‘Happy Easter,’ we would really mean it and

know what is behind that greeting. Let’s exhume that happy greeting

from the tomb of our usual formalisms and clichés. Let’s get real!

            With Easter, we celebrate the tremendous truth of our

faith that Christ, our savior, is risen, never to die again. With his

resurrection, he has conquered sin and death, and is offering us the

way, the means and the power to do the same. This is the greatest news

of all time. Nothing can outshine it.

            Easter marks the completion of Christ’s redemptive work on

us. With it, we now have the way to reach the fullness and perfection

of our humanity as truly the image and likeness of God, children of

his, meant to share in the divine life, because that is what God wants

for us.  We are now given the way to arrive at that ideal meant for

us.

            It would be good if we can meditate more deeply on the

significance of Easter and continue to draw practical resolutions to

guide us in our earthly life. What a pity if Easter time would just be

a feel-good moment with hardly any tangible effect on our lives, on

the way we think, speak, react, behave, etc.

            During this Easter season, we will be repeating many times

the responsorial psalm, “This is the day the Lord has made, let us

rejoice and be glad.” And we sing, “Alleluia, alleluia,’ in response.

With these words, we are told that Christ is truly alive.

            He is not dead, nor is he just a character in history, a

significant one, no doubt, but just a historical figure. We are not

left orphans. We need to adjust our consciousness to accommodate this

fundamental, tremendous reality.

            We have to understand that Christ’s death was meant to

conquer our sin and death. And he now invites us to die with him so we

can also rise with him. This is the “happy exchange” he is offering

us. He assumes all our sins without committing sin, dies to them to

put our sins to nothing, then rises.

            We then have to understand that our resurrection in Christ

would always pass through his cross. We have to make sure that we pass

through his cross, not our man-made crosses, which actually can also

be made into Christ’s cross as long as we refer our crosses to his. We

should be ready for this.

            That is why we really need to activate our faith to the

full, and with it, the corresponding virtues of hope and charity.

Everything else will flow from there insofar as our duty to correspond

to Christ’s redemptive work on us is concerned. All the human virtues

we need to develop, all the means we need to develop our spiritual

life, especially the sacraments Christ instituted for us, will come to

mind as a consequence.

            The only thing that can nullify this good news is our

freedom, that is, when we would stupidly use it to deny Christ, either

openly or secretly, directly or indirectly, without repenting. And we

should not take this possibility lightly, because even Peter, the head

of the apostles, came close to it by denying Christ, not only once,

but three times. But he repented. That is the difference between our

salvation and condemnation, between our glorification and perdition.

            With Easter, we can now face our life with confidence,

even if we commit mistakes and fall into sin. Let’s remember that

Christian life is not so much a matter of avoiding sins as following

God’s loving will. This means that we pray always, we follow his

commandments, we do his will which is nothing other than for us to be

holy and do continuing apostolate, helping one another to go to

Christ.