The reading from the Acts of the Apostles notes “The community of believers was of one heart and mind, and no one claimed any of his possessions was his own, but they had everything in common. With great power the apostles bore witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.” The obvious question to reflect upon today is how has/does the resurrection of Jesus influence our actions and aspirations? In today’s climate of economic uncertainty, natural disasters, international warfare, and your own personal problems, what is the impact of the risen Lord in your life? St. Paul preached that the resurrection is the very core of Christianity; it is the belief around which the church grew. If Jesus is not raised from the dead “than all is in vain,” he wrote. For Paul resurrection is first of all about new life now. It is about putting on Christ in baptism and then putting on Christ everyday thereafter.After the resurrection Jesus was alive not dead. It is the living Christ we experience at baptism and when we receive the Eucharist. Jesus comes into us and imbues us with his very life. In today’s Gospel Nicodemus did not understand that, like us, he “must be born from above.”And that “no one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man…and everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life.” This is our Easter gift, the indwelling power of Christ. As Paul noted “…yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me.” To put this Easter gift in the words of the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins: “In a flash, at a trumpet crash, |
