Jesus Christ *is* Risen

“Brothers and sisters: Are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus
were baptized into his death? We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death,
so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father,
we too might live in newness of life.”
- Romans 6:3-4

A blessed Easter to all of you and your families!

This is a day where we not only acknowledge and remember, but truly celebrate and commemorate something that not only affects our demeanor and worldview about life, but something that actually alters the entire cosmic universe and reality as we know it.

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ happened in time (some say on this exact calendar date!) two-thousand years ago. And yet, it is an event in time that alters everything about time and all of the created world. This event, which as the Catechism states so beautifully:

Finally, Christ's Resurrection - and the risen Christ himself is the principle and source of our future resurrection… The risen Christ lives in the hearts of his faithful while they await that fulfillment. In Christ, Christians "have tasted. . . the powers of the age to come" and their lives are swept up by Christ into the heart of divine life, so that they may "live no longer for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised."

CCC 655

What we ‘taste' in the Risen Christ is a present reality, not a distant memory or pastime. In Christ, resurrected, we taste “the powers of the age to come”, are given access to the heart of God, and made capable of living for God and others in the way that Christ asked us.

This ability to love- to love like God- has the power to destroy death, and all of its fruits. It has the power to make all things new, the power to redeem all that has been broken, forgotten, lost, and even the most fatal of wounds.

It is a love that is not distant. It is present. It is an active, living and breathing love. It is both creative and peaceful, and it’s fruits bring forth life to others and restoration to all.

It is the love that you have been seeking your whole life long. An eternal, endless, and unconditional love. One that allows you to plunge into the depths of God’s love for you and raise you up towards all that is Good and True, and Beautiful.

And like Mary Magdalene, on that very first Easter morning (Jn. 20:16), Jesus calls you by name. He loves you so.

And He invites you into a new way of life- again and again- “further up and further in” to a Love beyond all telling.

May God bless you and bring you to a most profound and intimate encounter with Him today and this entire fifty days of the Easter season. Jesus Christ is Risen!

Alleluia!

- Chance & Lora Unger