Our God is the God of all creation, the God of life, the maker of all things in the heavens and on earth. We feel that especially at this time of year when we see so many little signs of new life and growth everywhere. Flowers and plants are beginning to bloom; we hear the songs of the birds outside our windows. These Easter days offer us a chance to reflect on the meaning of creation and the experience of creation — on the beauty and wonders of the world around us, on how God’s glory and intentions are revealed in the things that He has made for us. The Psalms tell us: “The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it.”
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Easter Reflection: At the heart of the Bible is the living relationship of God with the people He created. Those who put Jesus to death could not understand this. They accused Jesus of being a man who was trying to make Himself God. They could not imagine that God would have the humility, the daring, or the love to enter into this world that He created and to share in the life of the creature He made in His image. “In Him was life,” St. John tells us at the start of his Gospel. And the promise that Jesus makes to us is the promise of life. “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly,” He said. That is why Jesus was born. This is why He lived and why He suffered and died. And it is why He was “born” from the dead three days later.
Jesus rose from the dead to give us life. Not physical life or biological life. He had already given us that, in our birth to our human parents. What He comes to share is spiritual life and divine life. Life like He has life. Life as a child of God. Life that is eternal. After all, our God is the God of the living, not the dead. He made us, each and every one of us, to be with Him. Not only for a little while, for the span of our mortal lives. No. God made us to be with Him for all eternity.
The joy of Easter is the joy of knowing that a great battle — the great struggle between life and death — has been won. Easter is the triumph of the Lord, it is the victory of divine love and life over human sin and death. The Lord’s victory should fill us with hope because His victory is our victory, too.
