The angel’s Easter instruction to Mary Magdalene rings with urgency: “Go quickly and tell his disciples: the Lord is risen, alleluia.” Easter is meant to make a difference in our lives! If the deep significance of the Christ’s resurrection is grasped, his triumph becomes the focus of our Christian life. It permeates our thoughts and activities, pervades our attitudes and relationships. Nothing else can explain the Church’s ecstatic joy; the unshatterable hope that knows triumph and confidence even in the midst of temporary pain and defeat; the prolonged celebration of new life, new vision, new promise.

We clearly get this sense as we join with the Church in its official prayer during these days of Easter. The exuberant refrain, “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad, alleluia,” is the frequently repeated theme. The reason is obvious: “The Lord is risen, alleluia.”

In the Liturgy of Hours, an 11th century hymn figures prominently: “Christ the Lord is ris’n today; Christians, haste your vows to pay....Now he lives no more to die! Christ, the Victim undefiled, Man to God has reconciled...Christ, who once for sinners bled, now the firstborn from the dead...Hail, eternal Hope on high! Hail, our King of Victory! Hail, our Prince of life adored!”

The Lord’s resurrection clearly takes the sting out of death. (1 Cor. 15) Death of the body will be only temporary. Jesus is the “firstborn from the dead.” Our bodies, too, will rise on the last day, for “we look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.” (Creed) Jesus’ promise was clear; “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live.” (Jn. 11:25)

It is evident from the Scriptures, however, (especially in St. John and St. Paul) that “eternal life” has already begun for us here. We share in the Divine life. We have been elevated to be sons and daughters of God. This life will blossom forth fully later, but in Christ we already live the resurrection experience; we already are empowered to live a qualitatively different life. Jesus’ victory is ours, shared with us in the power of the Holy Spirit. That is the sense behind the Easter Scripture, repeated often during these days: “Since you have been raised up in company with Christ, set your heart on what pertains to higher realms where Christ is seated at God’s right hand....Your life is hidden now with Christ in God.” (Col. 3: 1-4)

In the Liturgy of Hours, the Church begins to read from 1 Peter on Easter Monday. What Peter sketches as normal for the Christian is a life of new birth and power flowing from Easter: “a birth unto hope which draws its life from the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead; a birth to an imperishable inheritance, incapable of fading or defilement...which is kept in heaven for you who are guarded with God’s power through faith....Realize that you were delivered from the futile way of life your fathers handed on to you...by Christ’s blood beyond all price.” (1 Peter 1)

We have to want this new life, of course. We have to say “yes” to the new possibilities which flow to us from Jesus’ Resurrection. Thus, the Church ponders texts like: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me.” (Jn. 7:37); “All who are thirsty, come to the water! You who have no money, come....” (Is. 55); “O God, you are my God, for you I long; for you my soul is thirsting. My body pines for you, like a dry, weary land without water.” (Ps. 63)

Even the Church’s intercessions resonate with the sure hope of new possibility: “Make us victorious over sin today....Grant that we may walk today in this new life....Grant the fulness of joy to all who serve you....Make us witnesses to your risen life....Make us heralds of your gospel....Renew in us the presence of your creator Spirit....Stay with us today, and remain with us always.” The principal prayer of Easter Tuesday acknowledges: “Father, by this Easter mystery you touch our lives with the healing power of love. You have given us the freedom of the children of God....”

Let us continue to ponder what Easter means for us. In prayer, let us ask Jesus himself to help us understand the Easter mystery of new life. Throughout Eastertide let us fully live the Church’s joy and conviction: “The Lord is risen, alleluia.”

Copyright © 2004 Diocese of Sacramento - All Rights Reserved