ARCHDIOCESE OF PHILADELPHIA

This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad.

Dear Friends, fellow-disciples of the Risen Christ,

          On this special day which the Lord has made, the Church proclaims a message of great joy. She repeats the announcement of the angel to the women who came to the tomb of Jesus: “Do not be amazed! You seek Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Behold the place where they laid him. But go and tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him, as he told you.’”

          The Jesus who suffered, died and was buried is now alive. He is our triumphant Lord, our victorious Christ, our leader, the one who goes before us to show us the way to live.

          During Lent we reflected on the Passion and Death of Jesus. We followed Him in His journey to the Cross. And when we ask ourselves if there is a single expression that summarizes all the events of Christ’s sufferings, we say yes. That expression is: “Jesus humbled Himself unto death—death on the Cross.” And because of this humility of Jesus, God the Father raised Him up to life on Easter Sunday.

          And when we ask ourselves if there is another word that summarizes the great event of the Resurrection, we say yes. It is the word life. In the Resurrection, God the Father accepts the sacrifice of Jesus. He sets His final seal of approval on His Son’s work and raises Him to life.

          This word life tells the wonderful story of Easter. It is the meaning of the Resurrection. Jesus Christ is alive! The same Christ who humbled Himself by freely accepting to suffer and die on the Cross now lives the fullness of human life. Death can no longer have any power over Him. He has triumphed over death and has conquered the cause of death, which is sin.

          In the words of Saint Paul: Jesus lives for God! His human nature is radiant with life. But Saint Paul tells us that there is an intimate connection between Christ’s life and ours. We are called to participate in Christ’s victory over sin and death. We are called to be alive like Christ, and like Him to live the fullness of life. And so Saint Paul will say to us: “...think of yourselves as being dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus” (Rom 6:11).

          Our Easter reflection on the Risen Christ, the living Christ, leads us to understand the great value of Christ’s human life—the human life that Christ received from His Mother Mary, the human life that He offered to His Father on the Cross, the human life that His Father gave back to Him on Easter Sunday.

          But our Easter reflection also draws our attention to the value of all human life—our own and that of all those who like us share humanity with Jesus, the Son of God. The Resurrection of Jesus is the exaltation of all human life. It confirms our human vocation to live in peace with all people, and with all people, to respect, protect, love and serve life! It makes us truly understand the need to reject whatever wounds, weakens or destroys human life.

          God Himself on this Easter day, in restoring life to Jesus, shows us the incomparable value of all human life. Through our human life we are able to share in the very life of God and we are able to do this for all eternity. We remember those beautiful words that Pope John Paul II spoke to the American people some years ago: “When God gives life”—he said—it is forever!”

          And so our challenge today on this Easter Sunday is to be alive in Christ, and to use our human life to serve life in all our brothers and sisters.

          In our first reading today from the Acts of the apostles, we saw how Jesus “went about doing good” in the service of life. And this is what the Risen Christ, the living Christ, asks of us today. We must indeed live the way Christ taught us, according to His word, His commandments, His way of life. We must live in charity and justice, in peace, in purity and truth, in prayer, in the worship of God, in service to others.

          This is the challenge of life that is held out to us by our Risen Christ, our living Lord. We are a people of life, striving to understand everything that God is asking of us in the protection, defense and service of every life, including that of the unborn, and in helping our brothers and sisters to reach eternal life in heaven.

          Yes, this too is part of our message of life: everlasting life with God, with one another, with all angels and saints, with Mary the Mother of the Risen Christ.

          As the Christian people celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus we share the sentiments that Mary experienced on the first Easter Sunday after having shared with Him the suffering of His Passion. In recalling Mary, the Church invokes God in these words: “You gave Mary strength at the foot of the cross and filled her with joy at the resurrection of your Son.” Then the Church prays: “lighten the hardships of those who are burdened and deepen their sense of hope.”

          What we ask of God in prayer is also a pressing challenge to us as the Christian people, a people of life, a people of hope. Ours is the role of working with God and one another to lighten the hardships of life of those who are burdened and to deepen their hope.

          Dear friends in Christ: our role is important, our challenge is great. Jesus Christ the Risen One is in our midst. He calls us to be faithful as a community of worship, a community of service, a people of Easter joy.

          Jesus repeats today in our hearts: Peace be with you! Do not be afraid!

          This is why our Easter is the day the Lord has made, and why we rejoice and are glad. Amen.