The Living One surprises all. If there was something that the disciples did not expect it was that Jesus Christ would come back to life and appear to them without losing his identity with the Crucified One. The Gospels emphasize this striking surprise, which led Thomas to be so bold as to ask for evidence. It surprised the women who went to Jesus’ tomb and found it empty, it surprised the two disciples on their way towards Emmaus, it surprised the disciples gathered in a house. So many surprises at the same time on this first day after the Sabbath! Why are they surprised, if they believed in the resurrection from the dead? Why are they surprised, when they had seen Jesus bring back Lazarus, Martha and Mary’s brother, from the dead? Why are they surprised, if Jesus had foretold it on several occasions during his public ministry? They are surprised because what their eyes see is astounding. As good Jews, educated by the Scribes and Pharisees, they believed in the resurrection of the dead, but not in time; rather, at the end of time. They are surprised because Jesus’ historical Resurrection is a unique case and absolutely different from that of Lazarus, from that of Jairus’ daughter or of the son of the widow of Nain. Jesus is alive, but his life is no longer exactly the same as ours; it is a different life, a new and greater life. They are surprised because it is one thing to listen and to hear, but experiencing something is a totally different matter. The disciples do not hear that Jesus is going to rise from the dead on the third day, they see him and hear him once he has risen, they experience him as he who has overcome death, as he who lives forever. Lucky is the man who is permanently surprised by the living Jesus Christ!

P. Antonio Izqeuirdo, L.C., © Dicastery for the Clergy

The Christian outcry for life. How many people die a violent death each day in your country, in the world: in wars or conflicts, in prisons, in homes, in hospitals, in city streets, on highways? Jesus Christ, the Living One, has come in order for people to have life. And God is the only Lord of death and life. Why are there so many men and women who believe that they are the lords of life, and give it and take it away according to their own interest? The outcry of Christians in favor of life must first of all be raised to heaven, to the Living Jesus Christ, in order for him to open the minds and hearts of men and women to the value of every life, from conception until natural death, and in order for him to give people the clear and firm consciousness of the fact that they are the administrators and not the lords of life. The outcry of Christians in favor of life will also be addressed to state and public institutions, in order for them to defend vigorously and constantly all forms of human life, in order for them to protect the life of citizens, especially the innocent and powerless, and in order for them to promote love for life in a responsible way. The outcry of Christians for life will resound in their hearts so that, in spite of so much violence and so many murders, they never lose sight of the divine origin of life, the primordial value of existence, and the dignity of all human life. Christians cry out for life, yes, for earthly life in its value and contingency; but they also and especially cry out for the life of grace, that is, for the presence of the living Christ in the soul. The clamor for eternal life, the victory over death and the ineffable experience of a new life, in eternal closeness with God and all the saints.

P. Antonio Izqeuirdo, L.C., © Dicastery for the Clergy