Alleluia! Jesus is risen! His tomb is empty! "Death has no more power over Him" (Rm 6:9). Alleluia!
Because we've been baptized into Christ, we have died with Him (Rm 6:3). "If we have been united with Him through likeness to His death, so shall we be through a like resurrection" (Rm 6:5). This very day we have already "been raised up" with Jesus to share in His glorious, heavenly, risen life (Col 3:1).
For many in the United States, the joy of Easter means returning to the things we gave up for Lent. It's back to chocolate, sweets, soft drinks, ice cream, etc. Yes, we do have to "celebrate and rejoice" on Easter (Lk 15:32), and these treats help us to celebrate, but if we find our joy simply in returning to the old life we lived before Lent, we will have missed Easter.
Jesus is the reason for the season! He is risen! We are invited to a risen life with Him that is so new, powerful, and exciting that we can't sufficiently celebrate it with the "old yeast," that is, our old joys and old lifestyle (1 Cor 5:7). Let us "be intent on things above rather than on things of earth" (Col 3:2). Let's celebrate the fifty-day Easter season by immersing ourselves in God's Word, which is sweeter than the tastiest candy (Ps 119:103), and in the Eucharist, the "bread of sincerity and truth" (1 Cor 5:8).
| PRAYER: | Father, give me new, risen ways to celebrate "this new life" (Acts 5:20). Praise and glory to You, risen Jesus! |
| PROMISE: | "He saw and believed." –Jn 20:8 |
| PRAISE: | "This is the day the Lord has made; let us be glad and rejoice in it" (Ps 118:24). Jesus is risen! Alleluia! |
Reprinted with permission from Presentation Ministries, a lay association of the Catholic Church that focuses on evangelization and discipleship through Bible teaching, daily Mass, the charisms of the Holy Spirit, and Small Christian Community. Their ministries include:
· One Bread, One Body
· Daily Bread Radio Program
· Annual Bible Institute
· Discipleship Retreats
· Guadalupe Bible College