We, too, Are Raised Up

In a recent group spiritual direction session with seminarians, a line from scripture captured my attention. “Jesus was raised from the dead” (Acts 2:14) I know I have heard that line for years, but in listening to the life and death struggles of these men and women, something shifted in me and I experienced the wonder and awe of this event in a new way.

Jesus had died and in his death all the hopes, dreams and expectations of his followers died as well. It was only through undergoing death that Jesus was raised up. Death happened to him through the hands of others and it was through the hands of God that he was given new life.

As I listen to the unfolding of stories today, I hear the same mystery proclaimed in each of us. So much of our diminishment comes through the people and events that make up our lives. We die in so many different ways and, in all honesty, we can’t raise ourselves up. It is God who raises us up to a qualitatively new life in Christ.

The Pascal Mystery – our stories of death and resurrection are about the on-going rhythm within the core of our existence. We die a little bit each day, but those deaths are not the final story. We are raised up ‘to the glory of God’. All of the New Testament seems to proclaim this. And Christians around the world sing out ‘He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today’! ‘I too live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me’ Alleluia, Alleluia!

Easter Blessings on you and all those whom you love.