An ideal way of honoring our Lord’s Resurrection is to look at our own experiences of rising, being a new person. By paying attention to how we, ourselves rise and become new, almost in a meditative fashion, we may find that we are more assuredly walking a firmer path that leads to Christ. Following such a path will enable us to deeper surrender, so much so, that the Lord will inevitably raise us up to a new Life in Him.
Perhaps it’s best to begin with a scriptural example of what this can look like. Paul was raised as a result of his conversion. What is the expression that describes such an experience? ―I was blind but now I see!‖ Don’t such people who speak in this way have an appreciation for what the Resurrection means, even though they, themselves, are still alive?
Now let’s turn to ourselves and our own experiences of life. I’ve heard people say if their cancer goes into remission that they feel as they now have a new lease on life. Moving deeper, I have heard people say that after a confession, if it was a particular tough one, that they feel cleansed and here too, that they have a new life.
Typically among Evangelical Christians, it is stated that the day they accepted Christ as their personal Savior was the first day of the rest of their life. They are ―born again‖ which is another way of describing resurrected life! If I am returning to the church after a long absence, if I am going to be baptized or confirmed at the Easter Vigil, if I thought that my religion meant nothing to me and now it does, if I thought that God was really distant from me and now I am close to Him— I can say the same thing.
What Christ is trying to communicate to us through His Word, is that a spiritual transformation has precisely that kind of effect. All we have to do is want it. Our ―wanting‖ can be powerful if we can admit to ourselves that we have been more dependent on our own efforts, and that we need to be more dependent on the Lord. If we can admit that, we can turn to the Lord– right now– and give ourselves to Him. We will feel amazingly alive, perhaps one could even say—resurrected.
Peace, Fr. Walter
