“He is not here. He has been raised!” With those words our lives have been changed forever. “It is now no longer I who live…Christ lives in me.”
This message burst forth from the mouths of the Twelve lighting up a darkened world, saddened by sin and spiritual sloth.
The same message reverberates through a new generation of believers, igniting the Church with a spark that reaches the darkest corners and nourishes its most impoverished dwellings. He is risen! Alleluia!
My dear friends, now you too can proclaim what has been handed down to us through the Apostles! “Do not be afraid! Go to Galilee, and there you will see me.” Galilee, is the place of His preaching. If you go there, you will see Him.
As a witness to the Risen life you have been called to convert others souls, crushing their complacency with a great fire re-ignited this holy day! Jesus asks you now to release the fire you hold in your own heart and walk into the marketplaces of today’s Galilee! You know them well: your homes, your workplaces, the markets, the sports fields, anywhere people are gathered, preach to them about the Risen Life.
The Resurrection replaces the complacency of our religious practice with a missionary zeal that will transform the earth as a temple of virtues rather than a prison for the vices.
Christ can help you convert hearts by helping you live the Risen Life! Saint Teresa of Avila wrote:
“Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks with compassion on the world. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world. Christ has no body now on earth but yours.”
The man who walked through Galilee walks with you still to crush evil in all its forms. Satan does not have the last word. The final triumph is Christ’s! If you are prepared to suffer and die with Him, as St. Paul reminds us, His life becomes our life. His gifts of virtue become ours.
Let us begin with gratitude, the key to all virtues.
“To be grateful is to recognize the Love of God in everything He has given us – and He has given us everything. Every breath we draw is a gift of His love, every moment of existence is a grace, for it brings with it immense graces from Him. Gratitude therefore takes nothing for granted, is never unresponsive, is constantly awakening to new wonder and to praise of the goodness of God. For the grateful person knows that God is good, not by hearsay but by experience. And that is what makes all the difference.” Thomas Merton
Here and now, you can take the light offered us and ignite other hearts to an active and more vital participation in the life of God. Meditate every day on the mysteries we hold sacred; live the virtuous life with a quieter and more serene countenance. But for God’s sake, preach as if Christ were pulling forth from you heart love, forgiveness and joy to anyone who seeks Him with sincerity.
“They went away quickly from the tomb, fearful yet overjoyed, and ran to announce” it. He is alive and walking a head of you to Galilee.