In our Easter Sunday Gospel, we hear about the account of the Resurrection of Jesus from the tomb. It truly happened, and we gain access to this truth through the testimony of others who saw and believed.
The resurrection of Christ is one of the most fundamental teachings of our Faith and is also perhaps one of the most mysterious. Christ rose in the flesh but was not restricted by bodily realities. He told his followers that he was not a ghost but walked through the door and stood in the midst of the disciples in the upper room.
Because of its mysterious nature, people might nd it hard to believe. But to believe in a mystery that's unexplainable is not unreasonable. The reality of love is for sure a mystery, but the fact that it is inexplicable doesn’t mean we are not able to experience it!
One clear manifestation of the truth of the resurrection is the joy of the Christian Faith. The fact that we experience Christian joy in a world so imbued by division, disorder, and disappointment can help us to see that Christ is truly risen. Many years ago, Pope Saint John Paul II speaking about the resurrection of Christ, stated: “We are an Easter People and Alleluia is our song!” In the address below, John Paul II encourages us to remember that an essential element of the Christian life is Joy!
“I have said before on another occasion: “In a true sense, joy is the keynote of the Christian message." Faith is our source of joy. We believe in a God who created us so that we might enjoy human happiness - in some measure on earth, in its fullness in heaven.
We are meant to have our human joys: the joy of living, the joy of love and friendship, the joy of work well done. We who are Christians have a further cause for joy: like Jesus, we know that we are loved by God our Father. This love transforms our lives and fills us with joy. It makes us see that Jesus did not come to lay burdens upon us. He came to teach us what it means to be fully happy and fully human. Therefore, we discover joy when we discover truth - the truth about God our Father, the truth about Jesus our Savior, the truth about the Holy Spirit who lives in our hearts.
We do not pretend that life is all beauty. We are aware of darkness and sin, of poverty and pain. But we know Jesus has conquered sin and passed through his own pain to the glory of the Resurrection. And we live in the light of his Paschal Mystery - the mystery of his Death and Resurrection. “We are an Easter People and Alleluia is our song!”
We are not looking for a shallow joy but rather a joy that comes from faith, that grows through unselfish love, that respects the “fundamental duty of love of neighbor, without which it would be unbecoming to speak of Joy.”
We realize that joy is demanding; it demands unselfishness; it demands a readiness to say with Mary: “Be it done unto me according to thy word”.
— Pope Saint John Paul II (Nov. 1986)
May this Easter Season bring great joy to us all!
God bless,
Father Dan