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     On this chilly morning when we come together to celebrate the bodily resurrection of Jesus from the dead, everything around us shouts out one word loud and clear- LIFE! The clean white altar linens, the brightly colored flowers, the aroma of incense, the joyful music and the children bouncing off the walls because they already gotten into their Easter candy point us to the things we love and cherish the most: beauty, innocence, goodness and truth. The things which bring us real joy in this life have one source, Jesus Christ. By raising Jesus Christ from the dead, the Father makes that fact very clear. The resurrection has given us a new world, a new hope and a new life.

     You may think to yourself that the world does not look that new. There are wars and tragedies. There is sickness and death. Good people are suffering for no reason and the poor are abused and neglected. Where is this new world, this new hope, this new life? I don’t see it.

    The reason that we do not see it is because we do not see Jesus clearly. We may think that Jesus was just a person of the past, who is not interested in the world. We may think that Jesus is this taskmaster who asked more from us than we can ever give. We even think that Jesus is happy if we only do what we think makes us happy. None of these things gives us an honest picture of Jesus Christ.

     St. Peter gives us the clearest picture of Jesus in his sermon in Acts. He says clearly, that Jesus is alive, really alive, not a figment of our imagination, but through the grace of the Holy Spirit he lives among us in the Church, the world and in every baptzed believer. He is still with us becuase he knows that we cannot live without him. We need his wisdom, his compassion, his forgiveness, his encouragement. We most especially need his Body and Blood.

     Every day we face challenges. Some of us are carrying heavy burdens or confused or trapped in sin and we don’t know where to turn. We have good intentions to serve God but they get lost through all the busyness of the day. Every day we face the same question: Can I live without the help and grace Christ or not? Can I live without prayer and the sacraments, especially the Sacrament of Penance and the Holy Eucharist? Do I think my way is the most important, or do I let Christ show me a better and higher way?

     If the answer to those questions is yes, we can live without God, then we are really not among the living, because this Feast of Easter teaches us that there is no life, no hope and joy without the resurrection of Jesus Christ. God makes the resurrection a vibrant reality known to us by prayer and the sacraments. Real life is not going to happen without these things.

     The Lord has been raised from the dead so that we may be a people fully alive. We have been reborn through Baptism and in a moment we will renew our baptismal promises. Let us turn to the Lord and ask him to let us really live. Let us ask him to open our eyes to see where we are and let us beg him to make us into the people he wants us to be- a holy people, a united people, a blessed people, a people of the resurrection. Alleluia.