ONCE a young man visited a seminary. On the bulletin board was a big poster which read: “Christ is the answer.”
Wondering what it all meant, the puzzled visitor scribbled the following below the poster: “What is the question?”
* * *
If “Christ is the answer,” what question is he answering?
The glorious event of Easter answers the question: after suffering and death, what? It also answers such fundamental questions like: What’s the meaning of life? Is life meant to be nothing but a vain struggle for a modicum of joy and satisfaction terminated by death? In the words of St. Paul, are we here in this world to “eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die”?
* * *
Jesus, by his resurrection, is showing us that life is not a meaningless puzzle that ends in death. There’s life after death. And even if he conquered sin, he expects us to be sorry and strive to overcome it even if it should take a lifetime.
Moreover, Christ’s rising from death is the Father’s seal of approval on his life and work. As St. Paul puts it, “If Christ has not risen, in vain is our preaching and your believing in it” (Read 1 Cor 15,13).
* * *
Easter is not just a remembrance or re-enactment of something that happened 2000 years ago but is something PRESENT.
The death of Christ, for example, should teach and induce us to die to our old self. Thus, the man who struggles to give up smoking, gambling and other vices EXEMPLIFIES Christ’s rising to a new life.
* * *
Moreover in the family, there is the challenge to rise to a new life. For an estranged couple, for instance, it can mean rising from the depth of their problem and starting all over again.
“You mean, I should forget everything – all the cheating, the womanizing my husband has done in the past?” an aggrieved wife might say.
* * *
Yes. If the offending spouse is sincerely sorry and wants to start anew, then Christian forgiveness is demanded, in the very spirit that Christ forgave his enemies on the cross.
Like Christ, all of us have our own Calvary, our passion and death. But like the Redeemer, we too will know and feel the beauty, the joy of the Resurrection, if we but live it in the spirit of Christ.
Christian Spirit Not In Perpetual Mourning
The life of every follower of Christ should be animated by the spirit of joy, optimism and hope. Pope Francis said, “They think that being Christian means being in perpetual mourning.” The jovial Pope adds that “an ambassador for the faith must never look like someone who’s just come back from a funeral.”
A sense of humor does not mean you’re always cracking jokes.
* * *
It means that no matter how serious your problems may be, you do not lose hope, confident that somehow God will see you through.
But there’s one important thing to remember: Do your part. The great Saint Augustine said: “Work as if everything depended on you and pray as if everything depended on God.”
In the words of another writer: “Do your best and God will do the rest.”
* * *
LAFF WITH GOD. Why did Jesus rise from the dead? Answer: Because his grave was borrowed only for the weekend from an upright, wealthy Jew Joseph of Arimathea!
He had to vacate it or else he would be ejected.
* * *
A man, who doesn’t believe in God, heaven or hell (atheist), is all dressed up in his coffin but nowhere to go.
* * *
Did you know that the people to whom the Risen Lord first appeared were women? (Read Mt 28,1; John 20,1).
REASON? Women were faster in spreading news.
