GOD HAS THE LAST WORD
Jesus’ resurrection isn’t just a liturgical celebration. More than anything it’s the manifestation of God’s powerful love that saves us from death and sin. Is it possible to experience its life-giving power today?
What’s most important is to be conscious that life is lived by a welcoming Mystery that Jesus calls «Father». In the world there is such an «excess» of suffering that life can seem to us something chaotic and absurd. That’s not so. Though sometimes it’s not easy to experience it, our existence is sustained and directed by God toward a final fulness.
We must begin to live this from our very being: I am loved by God; there awaits me a fulness without end. There are so many frustrations in our life, sometimes we love ourselves so little, we despise ourselves so much, that we suffocate within ourselves the joy of living. God the raiser-from-the-dead can awaken again our trust and our joy.
It’s not death that has the last word, but God. There’s so much unjust death, so much painful sickness, so much life without meaning, that we could lose ourselves in hopelessness. Jesus’ resurrection reminds us that God exists and saves. God will make us know the full life that we haven’t known here.
To celebrate Jesus’ resurrection is to open ourselves to God’s life-giving energy. Life’s true enemy isn’t suffering, but sadness. We lack passion for life, and compassion for those who suffer. And we have more than enough apathy and cheap hedonism that makes us live without enjoying the best of existence: love. The resurrection can be a source and stimulus of new life.
José Antonio Pagola
Translator: Fr. Jay VonHandorf
