May 8, 2016 - When you believe in the Resurrected Christ

May 8, 2016

When you believe in the Resurrected Christ

If you believe that Jesus rose from the dead, your faith cannot be limited to just the belief that some odd event happened some two thousand years ago; you believe (have trust) that there is a life, a love, a hope and a joy that is the very essence of Jesus’ identity which is now coming to life in you. The more this life comes to life in you, you begin to know that no amount of pressure and stress and suffering  has the power in itself to break the bond that has been created between you and Christ, His life and His activity. You are alive with a fuller and deeper life that is not limited just to your own self. You will discover resources that you never would have imagined so as to deal with all the joys and difficulties of life.

 Jesus rises from the dead, not only to be with His Father in heaven but to also reside in the heart of each one of us. He rises so that we may rise out of the prisons of guilt, anxiety, self-obsession and apathy that so often trap us. But for this to happen, St. Paul stresses that day after day a part of our self must die, just as Jesus died on the Cross.  We have to accept the fact that, as man is enlightened by the Holy Light of the Resurrected Christ, so will the negative elements within him come to surface and, from the brightness of His Face, they will be shattered. That is why St. Paul says that for a Christian, life and death co-exist and affect one another.

He who truly believes in the Resurrection of Christ will allow the light of Christ, which “shines for all”, to kill off his sicknesses and deadly habits and he will allow the New Life that Christ has granted to the entire universe to shine through him throughout the world.

Adopted from a text of the
former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowen Williams 

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