Christmas is easy. The lovely manger scene and the sentiment that surrounds it make an immediate appeal. Christmas tugs at the heartstrings of millions of people who may or may not understand the mystery of the incarnation of the eternal Son of God.  Easter is, literally, another story. The historical event itself is a challenge. Jesus, who truly died on the cross, just as truly rose in his body from the dead. Though the Gospels and the letters of St. Paul affirm this truth, they do not actually describe how it happened. It is a divine event attested to in human history, but it is finally beyond the grasp of both history and our human intellects.

At Christmas, God entered into our familiar life. At Easter, God broke through the limitations of human life and entered into a realm beyond death. The body in which Jesus emerged from the tomb is the same, yet profoundly changed. Jesus rises in his own body; but   it is now immortal, glorified, transcending our normal physical universe.

The risen Christ goes beyond our familiar pattern of life and, even more amazing, he invites us to follow him into this new life.  This is the promise of Easter for us. Already we begin to live this risen life with baptism, when we are plunged into the death and resurrection of Jesus. We take into ourselves the seeds of immortality in Christ’s risen body each time we receive Holy Communion.

The fact of Christ’s resurrection is the basis of our faith; the promise of our own resurrection is the basis of our hope. A merciful God wants to share his very life with us; and his Son shapes that life to conform to his own, even in his bodily reality. After Easter, as the whole Church with those recently baptized contemplates our destiny in Christ, the mercy of God causes deep rejoicing. We rejoice in the truth: Christ is risen. We rejoice in Christ himself and in his mystical body, the Church. We rejoice in those who witness to the truth in their conversion that occurred through RCIA. We rejoice in the mercy of God, which leads us to truth and forgiveness and freedom.

I pray that your Easter celebration this year will be a source of great joy. Christ is risen. Alleluia!