Readings: Acts 10:34a, 37-43; 1 Cor 5:6b-8; Jn 20:1-9
Today we celebrate not only the greatest feast in the Church’s year, but also the single greatest event in human history. These are truths we have heard many times, but perhaps we need to look at them with new eyes. For instance, many Catholics, if asked, would say that Christmas is the greatest feast of the year. This may be because the birth of a baby is, on the natural level, the greatest event in our lives and, therefore, makes Christmas the favorite. On a lesser level, it may be because of all the secular hoopla that goes into Christmas, but has little or nothing to do with our Lord’s birth.
When we reflect on the great mystery of Easter, we may find ourselves in a situation similar to that of the Apostles who, St. John says in the Gospel, did not understand the Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead. We know Jesus had to rise from the dead and we know there would be no hope of our own resurrection if He did not rise first, so in this we have an advantage over what the Apostles experienced on Easter morning.
However, by the evening of that glorious day, the Apostles were changed. They saw our Lord in His resurrected form and, even if they did not yet fully understand what the Scriptures said, they knew His resurrection changed things forever. When the Holy Spirit was given to them on Pentecost, then they understood, but their lives were already changed because Jesus had risen from the dead.
This is what is so important for us. Jesus rose from the dead, which is obviously wonderful for Him, but just as He died for us, so also did He rise for us. Certainly, the Body of our Lord was changed because of the resurrection, but the Apostles were not celebrating merely the fact of what happened for Jesus, but what was happening for themselves and for the world. This is why St. Peter could say that Jesus commissioned the Apostles to preach and to testify to His resurrection so that everyone who believes in Jesus will receive the forgiveness of sins through His Name.
In other words, it was not just our Lord Who was changed, nor was it just the Apostles who were changed. The message of the Gospel is intended to change the lives of every person who believes. In his letter to the Colossians, one of the optional readings for Easter, St. Paul says, “When Christ your life appears, then you too will appear with him in glory.” Is Christ your life? There are two points here that we must understand. First, Jesus is the Christ only because of His passion, death, and resurrection. Second, we share in the divine life of Christ, that is, the life of grace. He took our human life to Himself so that we could take His divine life to ourselves.
This means that if we truly believe this, we should be changed. Objectively, we already are. We are baptized into the death and resurrection of our Lord; we have been taken from the kingdom of darkness and transferred into the Kingdom of Light. We have been made sons and daughters of God. Our sins have been forgiven and we have been set free of our slavery to sin and Satan. Indeed, we have been changed.
The issue now is not the objective change that took place on the day of our baptism; rather, it is the subjective change that needs to take place daily in our lives so that Jesus can truly be our life. Looking back to Easter day, the Apostles were changed objectively, but they did not know that at the time. The subjective change began when they believed in the resurrection of our Lord, but it still took time for it to sink in and live their lives in accordance with what they believed.
We believe in the resurrection and we have been baptized, but for many of us, these are just objective truths that we keep at an arms distance. If this is the case, then we need to do what St. Paul says in the second reading: “Clear out the old yeast, so that you may become a fresh batch of dough.” In other words, we need to push all the worldly and selfish things out of our hearts and allow ourselves to be filled with the glory of Jesus Christ risen from the dead.
If we can allow Him in, then we will receive His love and we will be able to love Him and be filled with gratitude for what He has done. The empty tomb will translate into a full heart and we will be His witnesses in the world!
Fr. Altier’s column appears regularly in The Wanderer, a national Catholic weekly published in St. Paul, Minn. For information about subscribing to The Wanderer, please visit www.thewandererpress.com.
