He is Alive!

Fr. Michael Steadman O.S.A. from Cristo Rey parish in Los Angeles tells a story of a 2^nd grader at his parochial school.  This student was new to the school having just moved to the states from another country.  She wasn’t a Catholic, not even a Christian, but her parents wanted a good education.  Her first day at the school began with a mass at the parish church.  Already feeling nervous and scared as the new kid on the block, she completely lost it after eyeing the huge depiction of Christ on the cross behind the sanctuary.  Imagine a young girl, knowing absolutely nothing about Christ or the Christian faith, being struck by this tortuous figure of a strange man dying on a cross.  She must have wondered what terrible thing her parents were getting her into.  Noting her reaction a rather astute and thoughtful classmate leaned over and said to her, “Don’t cry; don’t be afraid, he gets out of it alive!”

He gets out of it alive, absolutely right!  Sometimes it takes the youngest and most innocent to remind us of the most profound.   The Resurrection is the essence of the Christian faith.  Christ not only spiritually rose from the dead; he physically rose from the dead (body, soul and divinity).  That tortured, mangled body on the cross became new again and glorified.   This is what Christians celebrate and glory in.  This is what for Christians is their great hope.  

What must always be kept in perspective as we at times grind and suffer through life, as we endure physical hardship and bodily pain, as we mourn for our dead or face impeding bodily death ourselves is that we have an eternal hope in Christ, that one day we too, through His grace, will “get out of it alive!”  By the power of Christ and through faith in Him, we too will be resurrected from our sinful and suffering condition to a new and eternal life of glory and joy.  For this reason Christians must NEVER despair and always remain hopeful no matter the condition or situation we find ourselves in.

Easter Enlightenment