Jesus is alive! And so are we!

This is the day the Lord has made! Let us be glad and rejoice!

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia! Christ the Lord is Risen!

Yes, the Lord is Risen and so we are. We are Easter Christians. Our faith is founded and draws it meaning on the belief that the Lord Jesus Christ, truly human and truly God, was born, ministered to Israel, suffered, died and resurrected. We believe that our God fully empathized with us by becoming one like us and in the end of His ministry suffered and died but rose to life again in victory. Death is defanged and removed of its hold and power over us. In Jesus Christ, death meets its death!

While there was no one who actually saw our Lord resurrect, His disciples saw Him after His death. The meetings of the apostles with the Lord after His death brought back memories of the things He said while He was still with them. The descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles on the day of Pentecost was the turning point of their faith life. The experience of Jesus alive through the Holy Spirit, inspired and gave them the courage to go out and proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ. Now they are not afraid to face those who threaten them. Now they are set free.

In the resurrection, we are also set free. We are set free from sin. We are set free from eternal death. We are set free from the harm of evil. The resurrection of our Lord offers us new life. It is the new life that we received when we were baptized. We benefit from the graces of the Lord's resurrection when we are baptized. In baptism, God welcomes us to His Kingdom. Our membership to the family of God makes us share in God's eternity. But this great gift is with an equally great responsibility. We must try to maintain that condition by always remaining in God's favor. We had been freed from the slavery of sin. We must not go back to it anymore.

We wish that we will stay that way. We wish that we will maintain our freedom from sin and freedom for God. But we know that the devil will not stop and will always find the perfect time and way to seduce us away from God. And many times, we must admit, we have failed. Not because the devil is more powerful than God, but because we have allowed the devil to do so by our cooperation. We have allowed the devil to inspire us more than the Spirit. We know what is right but we failed to do it. We know what is wrong, but we failed to avoid it. Such is our predicament that many had been rendered almost hopeless. Who can free us from this?

Precisely, the Lord Risen gives us hope. By His rising from the dead, our hopes are alive! The resurrection gives us reason and hope to fight evil. In fact, evil offers no contest at all to the power of God. If we remain with God, evil has no power over us. Sufferings, pains, challenges, sickness, and other spirit-killing situations are always seen and experienced by a Christian as life-and-faith-opportunities. It is the goal of every Christian to go through all of them armed with the belief that God is with him, faith will see him through, and eternal life is just waiting at the other end.

Easier said than done but must be done. Easter was not attained without Good Friday. Healing happens not without pain and suffering. True success would not come without hard work. It is not easy to be an Easter Christian. But it is harder if we are not. There is no greater expectation anyone can have than to be assured of life in bliss with God after death. Anything else is either limited, temporary, or less.

I guess the choice is clear.

Happy Easter and God bless you my co-Easterians!