The Glory of the Resurrection (The Creed)

And rose again on the third day

in accordance with the Scriptures.

He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

Ours would be a grim faith indeed if the Gospels ended with the Crucifixion. We might be as grave as the Muslims or as morbid as the Stoics. And I think that it can be all to easy to do just that - to end with the Passion, to end with the suffering of Christ while neglecting what happened three days later. It can be all too easy to focus on the magnitude of sin and suffering in the world and forget the significance of the Passion which was made manifest in the rolling away of the stone. It is easy to hold up a sign saying that "The End is Nigh" or to complain about the state of the world. It is much harder to embrace your brother with love.

Jesus died and rose again!

The God-made man has conquered the grave!

"He is not here, for He is risen" (Matthew 28:6).

Brothers and sisters, how can we not rise up with joy in the truth of our faith? How can we keep from singing? The depths of the grave have no power over our Lord, "O death, where is thy sting?" (1 Corinthians 15:55). The Resurrection is the validation of the Cross. The Cross would not make sense without the glory of Easter. We can have confidence in the necessity of our own suffering because the story did not end on Calvary.

How many false prophets have been silenced by death? When Socrates was poisoned with hemlock, did he teach beyond the grave? Did Mohammed share his revelations after death? Was Buddha able to share his message post-mortem? Who else has a Lord who rose from the grave?

The world hates this Truth. It tries to tell us that it is impossible, that no man can conquer death. Our age fears the grave because it has rejected and spat upon what lies beyond it. The world turns to its fatalistic hedonism, the danse macabre, the self-deluding, insane, urgent dance of those yet untouched by death. It drinks to forget its own mortality, seeks meaningless lusts in a desperate frenzy, masks its age in layer upon layer of beauty products. All to stave off the cold embrace of the grave for one moment longer.

But no Christian need fear death. We need not live under the shadow of the tomb. "Now we are loosed from the law of death" (Romans 7:6). Christ "hath destroyed death and hath brought to light life and incorruption by the gospel" (2 Timothy 1:10). "Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall not fear" (Psalm 23:4). Having full confidence in God's mercy and the absolution of our sins through sacramental Confession, the sting of death is nullified by the love of Christ. Death means nothing to the saints and the martyrs of God.

We believe that Jesus rose from the death, that he invaded the pit of hell and thrust open the gates of heaven. That is why Easter is a time for rejoicing and feasting. Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen wrote: "there are only two philosophies of life: the Christian, which says first the fast, then the feast; and the pagan, which says first the feast, then the headache." Our fasting should not be tainted with sorrow for we know what lies at the end of the road. Sadness profits us nothing, "for of sadness cometh death, and it overwhelmeth the strength" (Sirach 38:19).

On Good Friday, the Temple veil was torn. On Easter Sunday, the tombstone was cast aside and the vice-hold of death broken.

Do not weep, rejoice! Christ is no longer dead but alive!

DEUS VULT!