SHARING THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST


 TUESDAY, SIXTH WEEK OF EASTER

Act 16:22-34; Ps 138:1-3,7-8; Jn 16:5-11

Sharing in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ

In the opening prayer, the Church prays to God for us to share in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. But we know we must die to have a share in the resurrection. Saint Paul writes about this when he informs us that the death of Jesus Christ was at work in his life as the life of Jesus was also at work in him. The ritual of our baptism presented this understanding clearly to us. We die in our profession of faith in Jesus Christ, for we profess faith in his death and resurrection at our baptism. Our immersion in the water showed our belief in his death for us. The death he died for us, that we may no longer live for ourselves, but for him who died for us and came back to life. Hence, our coming out of the water signifies our readiness to embrace the new life of resurrection, a heavenly life that commences with the coming of the Holy Spirit into our souls. So, what we experience sacramentally at our baptism, renewed at every Easter vigil, describes our lives as Christians.

The Christian life is a journey into death, just like the life of any human person. But unlike every other human, ours is a journey into the death of Jesus Christ. Because the death of Jesus was a transition to spiritual or mystical life with God, we who believe and share in his death will also transit into heavenly life through faith in his resurrection. For us believers in Jesus Christ, therefore, two mystical forces are at work in our lives: the force of death that purifies us of what is earthly and perishable and the force of life or resurrection that brings us to participate more and more in the mystical/spiritual life of Jesus Christ. The passage from Acts of the Apostles gives us a typical example of how Paul and Silas shared in the death of Jesus Christ and his life. “The crowd joined in and showed their hostility to Paul and Silas, so the magistrates had them stripped and ordered them to be flogged. They were given many lashes and then thrown into prison, and the jailer was told to keep a close watch on them. So, following his instructions, he threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.” Death was at work in them, but life was also present, for when Paul and Silas raised their hearts and voices in praise to God for their death experience, the force of resurrection broke every chain, opened every closed door, and brought them freedom again. Faith is needed to make the transition from death to spiritual life.

What we have described above to be the operations of two forces are brought about by the divine will or the word of God. By the same operation, the word of God executes the sentence of God on all mortal creatures and brings the faithful to participate in the imperishable life of God. The Lord explains the misunderstanding of the working of the word of God as what characterises the thinking of the world, which the Holy Spirit would clarify in the minds of believers. “He will show the world how wrong it was, about sin, and about who was in the right, and about judgment: about sin: proved by their refusal to believe in me; about who was in the right: proved by my going to the Father and your seeing me no more; about judgment: proved by the prince of this world being already condemned.” Thus, the absence of faith in the word of God is the sin in the world and the reason for the absence of the operation of resurrection in the lives of unbelievers. Lack of faith is the condemnation of the prince of this world and his cohorts. Faith in the Word of God makes him present in us who believe, for the Word is Spirit and Life. To establish faith in us, the Son of Man died, resurrected, and ascended to the Father to send his Holy Spirit within us for our resurrection. Because he rose and ascended to the Father, he can rescue us from the force of death. “You stretch out your hand and save me, your hand will do all things for me. Your love, O Lord, is eternal, discard not the work of your hands.”

Let us pray: Grant, almighty and merciful God, that we may in truth receive a share in the Resurrection of Christ your Son. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. 

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