The God Slot: We are people of the Resurrection

By Fr Declan Boland

After the death of Jesus his disciples were in disarray and completely discouraged. All their hopes had been shattered, their leader, they thought, was gone forever, they were completely lost and in a very dark place. They were now wanted men and women, afraid of the Jews. In John 20:19 we are told that they had locked themselves in a big room afraid to show their faces. But then something of earth-shattering significance happened – the Resurrected Christ appeared to them…

“Jesus came and stood among them. He said to them, “Peace be with you,’ and showed them is hands and his side.”

Not only did he appear but he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. As the Father sent me so am I sending you.”

From that moment their lives were utterly changed and they were given the power to bear witness to the resurrected Christ. The Christian mission began that day and we can trace our lineage back to that momentous moment. Pope Francis who died recently, in his Easter message wrote, “Sisters and brothers, especially those of you experiencing pain and sorrow, your silent cry has been heard and your tears have been counted; not one of them has been lost!

“The resurrection of Jesus is indeed the basis of our hope. For in the light of this event, hope is no longer an illusion… That hope is not an evasion, but a challenge; it does not delude, but empowers us.”

The radiant Jesus who leaves the tomb challenges our complacency with the forces of death, be they hopelessness, fear, discouragement or lack of will. Resurrection means that we cannot let these things have the last word in our evolving story. The Easter feast is a reminder to all of us to open our eyes and our ears and to witness what is happening all around us, all the time, everywhere. God’s only job description is to turn death into life. That’s what God does with every new springtime, every new life, every new season, every new anything. God is the one who always turns death into life, and no one who trusts in this God will ever be put to shame (Psalm 25:3).

“I am the Resurrection and the Life,” is the great Easter refrain. The question then becomes, “How am I resurrection, how can I choose to live resurrection each day?” Which of us does not seek a new and fuller life? Did Jesus not promise, “I have come that you may have life and have it in abundance?” So the question becomes “How am I Resurrection for others? How am I life for others?”

To be resurrection for another I need to be resurrection for myself. That means I cannot continue to dwell in darkness and death, anger, jealousy, oppression, resentment, hostility, and pain forever. Carrying these things acts like a big vacuum, sucking out of my soul all that is good and positive. I need to wake up, get up, rise up, put on life even when days are dark (and we have had some very dark days recently) and my soul is down and shadows surround me everywhere. I have to refuse to feed my own darkness. I need to learn forgiveness, to let go, and move on. I must give birth; I must create, put myself out there, be a mother, be a carrier of new life. I have to listen to the voice that says, “Be resurrection.”

Break out of your tombs; do not settle for death, cease to be pessimistic or cynical. Put your heart and minds and hands to creating hope and light and resurrection. Rise up and receive the good news deeply that death does not conquer, that life not death has then last word. “I am the Resurrection.” So are you and so is everyone else. Resurrection is a commitment to hope and being reborn. It is a commitment to creativity, to the Spirit who “makes all things new” (Revelations 21:5). It is the life of the Spirit.

O Holy Spirit, teach me the truths of resurrection and resurrecting, and the deepest truths of life itself, now, in this life. How many times have I died? And how many times have I come back to life? Or refused new life? Help me to know that I am being held by a larger force, by a larger source that is not my own – that’s what it means to be saved. Grant me the courage to let go, and the trust to forgive, to move on and to live life fully, even when death in any of its forms assaults me.