Christ has risen

Seen from the perspective of Easter there is a further dimension to the events we have solemnly commemorated during these days, with liturgical signs and symbols. The solemn announcement of Christ's resurrection from the dead is the proclamation that he is the Light in which all mankind is to walk; that he is the Way, the Truth and the Life. They do not look merely to the past, recalling events that happened two thousand years ago; nor are they just of today inviting us to embrace the Christian message or to deepen our commitment to it. They are given to us by the Church in fulfillment of the charge given to the faithful apostles, that those who believe in him and share in his divine Life should also take up the redemptive work that he continues to carryout in the world.

In the days before his death Jesus said, signifying the death by which he was to die, "When I am raised on high (on the cross of crucifixion) I will draw all things to myself." Jesus' death and resurrection are the beginning of the New Creation of which the Book of Revelations speaks: "Behold, I make all things new." (Rev. 21:5) With soteriological perceptiveness (of which they were probably unaware) the screen writers of the movie "The Passion of the Christ" placed these words on Jesus' lips when he meets his mother, Mary, on the way to Golgotha. On the Cross Christ makes all things new. When we follow in his footsteps, taking up the cross of suffering in ordinary life in the world, we are building up the earthly kingdom of men which is meant to be a kingdom of peace, happiness and human progress and prosperity that anticipates our definitive home, the heavenly kingdom that awaits us.

All this is not a myth invented by men but truth according to which generations have loved, lived and died.