The resurrection is a matter of faith. It means it can not be proven via our scientific standards. It means there was no witness to the actual rising of our Lord. The most that we have are the accounts of the Gospel writers about the experiences of the apostles of the Lord after His death. There were many of them; Mary Magdalene's visit to the tomb, the visit of apostles John and Peter in the tomb, the appearances in the room where the apostles were gathered, appearance on the sea shore of Galilee, the appearance with the two who are on their way to Emmaus, etc. Therefore, one believes it or not, depends on his conviction, experience and belief in the accounts of the apostles.
The resurrection is at the very foundation of the Catholic faith. We die and live with it! St. Paul put it well in his letter to the Corinthians when he said that if Christ did not rise from the dead, all of what we are doing have no meaning. If we live life only for this earth, then it is not worth it. Not the worth the challenges, sufferings and deaths. Better if we have not lived at all. In fact, we hear this from some people whose life has been bereft of meaning. Those who see life as merely life on earth would tend to make the most of it here and most probably end with frustration or discontent. The Catholic Christian, because of the resurrection fully understands the meaning of "hope". Not only will they have hope while still living on this earth, but also to because of hope, they have more life even after life on earth.
The resurrection is God's answer to death which has entered human life because of sin. This is one of the greatest truth of the Catholic faith together with God becoming man in Jesus Christ, ministered during His lifetime, suffered, and died. No other religion can claim the same. The truth of death meeting its death is the source of inspiration of all Christians. Death, identified with sin, is mans greatest fear. But with the resurrection, every Christian has now reason to live here and beyond!
Some say, "Death is no more, no less!". It makes sense. But for a Christian it is more, because, "Death is the door towards everlasting life.".
2 comments:
Happy Easter Father! :) My best friend's favorite saying for easter is: Christ died so we might live! That's the gist of Easter, right? :)
Yes. Your best friend is right on the mark regarding his favorite saying on Easter.
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