Happy Easter!! Christ is risen!!
Today we celebrate the greatest moment in history. Ever since the Fall of Adam and Eve, all of creation has waited for this moment. Right after the Fall (Genesis 3:6), God promises Satan that the offspring (Jesus) of the woman (Mary) will crush Satan’s head (Genesis 3:15). This is the death blow that Jesus gave to Satan from the Cross (and will be completed at the end of time). Before the Fall, we had eternal life on earth sustained by the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden. Now through a new Tree of Life, the Cross of Christ, we are given eternal life in heaven. If we choose to accept God’s mercy and forgiveness, won on the Cross, we can have eternal life not in a garden, but in heaven with God face to face. Thanks to Jesus, we can have even more than Adam and Eve had before the Fall. My favorite line from the Easter season is found in the Exsultet (which is sung at the beginning of the Easter Vigil): “O happy fault that earned so great, so glorious a Redeemer!” Sin is never a good thing, but as I have said many times, God is the master of bringing good out of evil. God allowed the Original sin of Adam because He knew that He would bring about an even greater good for us, our eternal salvation in heaven.
The Passion of Christ had to happen before the Resurrection. Often, in our own lives, before something great happens, there has to trial and perseverance. Maybe it is even relationships. Maybe you had to go through some tough relationships before you found the love of your life. As I have said before, all true love on this side of heaven requires sacrifice. Jesus loves us more than we can imagine. That is why His love for us, which is so deep it can even save us from our sins, required pain and suffering. When we look at the Crucifix, we should see the ultimate example of love.
This love should propel us to live differently. The love of Christ, the graces offered to us from the Cross and through His resurrection, gives us the means we need to become saints. There is no greater task as a human being than to allow God’s grace to transform us into saints, to prepare us for eternity in heaven. I pray as we begin the 50 days of the Easter season, you allow God’s saving grace to make you more holy, to transform you into a saint.
Peace of Christ,
Father Vogel
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