Dear brothers: "He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures." Every Sunday, in the Creed, we renew our profession of faith in the Resurrection of Christ. In the Church everything is understood starting from this great mystery, which has changed the course of history and is updated in each Eucharistic celebration.
However, we celebrate a liturgical time in which this central reality of the Christian faith is proposed to the faithful in a more intense way so that they rediscover more and more and live it ever more faithfully: it is the Paschal time. Each year, in the Most Holy Triduum of Christ Crucified, Dead and Risen, the Church goes through, in a climate of contemplation and penance, the conclusive stages of Jesus' earthly life: his condemnation to death, the ascent to Calvary carrying the cross, his Sacrifice for our salvation and his burial.
Then, "on the third day", the Church relives its Resurrection: It is Easter, the passage from Jesus from death to life, in which the ancient prophecies are fulfilled. All the liturgy of Easter time sings the certainty and joy of the Resurrection of Christ. We must constantly renew our adhesion to Christ dead and risen for us: his Passover is also our Passover, because in the risen Christ we are given the certainty of our future resurrection, and this consoling news does not grow old because Jesus is always alive, and also alive his Gospel
The weakening of faith in the resurrection of Jesus weakens the testimony of believers. Indeed, if the faith in the Resurrection fails in the Church, everything is paralyzed, everything collapses. On the contrary, the attachment of heart and mind to the dead and risen Christ changes our life and enlightens the existence of people and peoples.
Jesus has risen! He is "the one who lives", and we can meet him, as the women who, at the dawn of the third day, the day after the Sabbath, had gone to the tomb; how the disciples met him, surprised and disconcerted by what the women had told them; and how many other witnesses met him in the days following his resurrection.
As the disciples recognized Jesus in breaking the bread, so today, in breaking the bread, we also recognize his presence. In the Holy Eucharist we also discover and find Jesus at the table of the consecrated Bread and Wine. Every Sunday the community revives the Easter of the Lord and receives from the Savior his testament of love and fraternal service.
May MARY help us to be messengers of the light and joy of Easter for many of our brothers and sisters. I wish you all a HAPPY EASTER!
Fr. Roberto García, OP