By Fr Antony Christy, SDB –
I will live; we shall live, because HE LIVES
He is Risen! Alleluia. He is alive; He lives and therefore we shall live!
“If Christ were not raised from the dead, our faith would be in vain” declares St. Paul (1 Cor 15:14). It is an expression of our faith, a faith that is alive and active, a faith that is vibrant and vivifying. The Risen Lord gives us three important messages to celebrate today. And we will do well to keep these in our minds this day and all through our life.
Easter is all about LIFE. Life belongs to God. God has given us life and has a specific plan for us in our life. We live our life, keeping in mind the purpose that the Lord has specified for it. When Jesus lived his life in perfect sync with the One who sent him, death became part of his life! It was not the end of his life. God raised him up from the dead! It is thus that the Lord directs our life and its purposes and brings them all to a glorious end.
Life is not just days and days of breathing and doing things here on earth – it is a call and it comes with a purpose. It is in in finding that purpose, that particular purpose, that plan and design that God has for each of us, that our life becomes meaningful. It consists in searching, in remaining alert and in beholding every experience in our daily life, from the beloved hands of God, just as Jesus did. I do not do anything on my own, it is what the Father has commissioned me and that is why, it is the Father who had the last say on his life. When this purpose is focused upon and we are able to intently look for it, our life becomes meaningful on a daily basis!
Easter is all about NEW LIFE. It is said that the greatest of all proofs for the Resurrection of Christ, is the radical transformation that was found in the lives of the apostles. They were so transformed that they were looking like new persons, they had within them, a NEW LIFE.It is this new life that we are offered in this day, as Christ rises to new life as the Saviour of Humankind.
This is one reason, that the feast of Easter is connected very much to the young! Youth are future, the strength; they are those who keep the Church moving forward, the ones in whom the Church places her hope – says Pope Francis. The Youth have the responsibility, the duty and the obligation of bringing new life to the daily life of the Church! They need to do that the community of faith needs to empower them to do that! New life as individuals and new life as a commuity of faith, this is the Easter call. The other call that comes alive to each of us is to keep our life renewed every day in the love of God, becoming born anew everyday in the Lord.
Easter is all about LIFE TO THE FULL. I came that you may have life and have it in abundance! Life that Jesus brought us is a life to the full. In his rising he offers that life to each and everyone who claims it for oneself from the hands of the Risen Lord who stands blowing on us and greeting us: Shalom! Peace be with you! Easter challenges us towards this fullness of life, because everyday that we have is a gratuitous gift from God and our responsiblity is to live it to the full, identifying and doing away with all that can take this life away from us.
This call to live, to live anew every day, and to live to the full every moment of our life. That is being Easter People. Yes, we are Easter People and Alleluia is our song!
Fr Antony Christy is a Salesian Priest from 2005 and has a Masters in Philosophy (specialisation in Religion) and a Masters in Theology (specialisation in Catechetics). He has a Doctorate in Theology with specialisation in Catechetics and youth ministry at Salesian Pontifical University, Rome. Walking with the young towards a World of Peace and dialogue is the passion that fires him.