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My
brothers and sisters, with these
words from the Gospel of Luke, the
angels proclaim great and glorious
news to the women of
Galilee
: He is not here, but has risen.
When the women are asked why they
seek the living among the dead, it
must have seemed remarkable to them:
we were seeking the dead,
what could they mean?
They
meant exactly what they had said,
that Jesus Christ was no longer to
be found among the corpses of the
dead, but had risen to new and
everlasting life. Life that is
definitive and eternal, “For we
know that Christ, being raised from
the dead will never die again; death
no longer has dominion over him.”
(Romans
6:9)
This
great and glorious news is the very
crux of the Gospel: that Jesus of
Nazareth, crucified for our sins, is
risen from the dead and will never
die again. But this gospel is not
just good news for Jesus, not just
good news for the women of
Galilee
who had followed him, or just for
the eleven frightened apostles in
the upper room. It is, and must be,
good news for all of us, all of us
who have ever lived or who will ever
live. Because of his death and
resurrection, we too have hope of a
life that is definitive and eternal.
“If the Spirit of him who raised
Jesus from the dead dwells in you,
he who raised Christ Jesus from the
dead will give life to your mortal
bodies also through his Spirit
dwelling in you.” (Romans
8:11)
This
is the promise! On the Cross, Christ
won for us the forgiveness of our
sins, and now that the Father has
raised him from the grave, he has
won eternal life for you and for me,
through his gift of the Holy Spirit
which we will celebrate at the end
of this beautiful season on
Pentecost. Sin and death are no
longer the final word, as we sing in
the Mass: dying
you destroyed our death, rising you
restored our life, Lord Jesus come
in glory!
While
we wait for these promises to come
to fulfillment at the end of time,
when we are given forever this new
and definitive life; what are we to
do? How are we to live? Are we
simply to follow his example of
patient suffering? Are we simply to
listen to his teachings the way we
might read the thought of great
philosophers? Are we to admire him
as we do the heroes of history?
We
must hear that question of the
angels again: Why do you seek the
living among the dead? We cannot
look for Christ among the relics of
the past. He is alive, and so our
search for him must be in the
present, in our daily living. If we
try to relegate our faith to a small
corner of our existence, or equate
our faith solely with the traditions
of the past, we are seeking the
Living One among the dead. Rather,
through our active participation in
the life of the Church, in the
Easter sacraments, especially the
Holy Eucharist, we come into living,
vibrant contact with Christ. Through
hearing his word proclaimed in the
Church, we hear him speak to us
again his words of life. Through
constant prayer we come to know him
as an intimate friend, who is alive
to us today, not a figure of the
distant past.
This
is the relationship that he longs to
have with each one of us, and his
living presence proclaimed in his
Word and celebrated in his
sacraments makes it possible. This
kind of life is the Gospel, the
quintessential Good News. My prayer
for all the faithful of our Diocese
is this – that we seek Christ
living in his Church, that we might
share life with Him forever! May God
bless you all with a holy and happy
Easter season.
With every best wish, I am,
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Most Reverend Joseph F. Martino, D.D.,
Hist. E.D.
Bishop of
Scranton
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