Liturgy & Devotions | Liturgy & Piety

Believing on the Resurrection

by Fr Nicolás Schwizer | Source: Schoenstatt Press Office

To be a Christian is to believe in the Resurrection of Christ. We are not Christians because we believe in the cross, suffering, and death of Jesus. We are Christians because we believe in the Resurrection, which for us means liberation, life, and joy.

   At the bottom of our hearts, we must have the security that, through Christ, all trials transform into grace, all sadness into joy, and all death into resurrection.

   If we wish, there will not be one single moment of our existence without the splendid joy of Easter. The true Christian is incapable of living on the fringe of joy. Through Christ, we have been introduced and installed into joy. Indeed, we surrendered to joy. In our lives, failure can no longer exist; neither sin, nor suffering, nor death can be for us insurmountable obstacles. Everything is prime material for redemption, for resurrection since at the center of our sin, our sufferings and our death, is Jesus Christ, Victor. For that reason, the greatest sufferings and the best joys can co-exist, intimately united in the bosom of the same life.

   We experience so many temptations, but we must resist. We are required to renounce our very selves, our experiences, our lack of confidence, and our complaints. Our joy is the measure of our attachment to God, to confidence, to hope, and to faith. Our “no” to happiness is our “no” to God. God occupies in our lives the same place as joy.

   The Fathers of the Church would say that there is only one way to cure sadness: to stop loving it. To believe in God is to believe that our Lord is capable of making us happy, of showing us a life we wish to prolong for all eternity. Because for many of us, the difficult question is not in knowing if we have faith in the Resurrection, rather, it is in knowing if we have the desire to resurrect. If we were to resurrect on our small, egotistical, painful and blind life, prolonging this life indefinitely, would be more of a punishment that a recompense. But we are to set our minds on things that are above (Colossians 3:2).

   Therefore, faith in the Resurrection can only come forth from true love. Christ has let us know that love which does not pass: “Faith and hope will pass, but charity (love) lives forever.” (1 Corinthians 13)

   Our faith, our hope of resurrecting, for us and others, depends closely on our ability to resurrect. The mastery of this ability depends on our commitment to love.

   In order to be able to experience a life of love and faith, we have to die to our faults, to our sadness, and to our resentments. There is no Easter for us if we do not accept dying in this area of our soul where we are so much alive: in our agitations, our fears, our interests, and our selfishness. We have to accept resurrecting in the areas of our lives where we are dead. Instead of dragging on the pain on us, we must trust in the Lord and resurrect with him to peace, to faith, to hope, to love, and to joy.

   There is no Easter without a good confession: a dying to ourselves, a dying to our caprices which are our sins. In order to resurrect to the will of Christ who is love, hope, renewal, affection, we must let go of the works of the enemy.

   There is no Easter without an Easter Communion. We must thrive to leave our old ways, we must decide to leave the bread that feeds us today, and the life we currently have. Only then, we will be able to taste the Bread of Life, and have his life in us. His is a bread of sincerity, of surrender to others, and a life of love, faith and joy.

   That is the feast of Easter: A change of life, a passing from this life to another admirable, marvelous life which will be our life forever, in the house of our Heavenly Father.


Questions for Reflection
1. To what measure am I a joyful Christian?
2. Am I capable of renouncing my caprices for love of Christ?
3. How do I imagine the Resurrection?

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Translation: Carlos Cantú 

Edited by: Catholic.net