The Resurrection of Christ is the basis of our Christian faith. It is as simple (yet profound) as that! The Resurrection is the greatest of the miracles, for it shows us, in the most definitive way, that Jesus is God. This is why St. Paul writes: “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain; and your faith is in vain” (First Corinthians 15, 14). In fact, the central theme of all of the Apostles’ preaching is: “Jesus is Lord, He is Risen.” (Romans 10, 9).
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An anecdote to reflect on this Easter Sunday: Some of us may remember a geography lesson from elementary school in which we learned that the southernmost point of Africa is a point which, for centuries, has experienced tremendous storms. For many years no one knew what lay beyond that cape, for no ship attempting to round that point had ever returned to tell the tale. Among the ancients it was known as the “Cape of Storms,” and for good reason. But then a Portuguese explorer in the sixteenth century, Vasco De Gama, successfully sailed East around that very point and found beyond the wild raging storms, a great calm sea, and beyond that, the shores of India. The name of that cape was changed from the Cape of Storms to the Cape of Good Hope.
Until Jesus Christ rose from the dead, death had been the “cape of storms” on which all hopes of life beyond death had been wrecked. No one knew what lay beyond that point until, on Easter morning, Jesus arose. The ancient visions of the Prophets were really foretelling the victory of Jesus over our last great enemy.
So, like those sixteenth century explorers, we can see beyond human death to the hope of Heaven and eternal life with the Father. More than that, we dare to believe that we shall experience in our own human lives exactly what the Son of God experienced in His, for the Risen Christ says to us, “Because I live, you shall live also.” This is the heart of our faith. Alleluia!
