In the gospel reading tomorrow, the third Sunday of Easter, we are told about the apostles gathering in a room, breaking bread, and reminiscing their time with the Lord when suddenly there appeared the risen Christ in their midst. The apostles became frightened, thinking that they were seeing a ghost. But Jesus assured them with these words: Peace be to you; it is I, fear not. He then said to them: Why are you troubled, and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? He beckoned each one of them to see his hands and feet.
Christ’s glorious resurrection is the apex of his sojourn here on earth. His rising from the dead is the reason why we Christians believe. His dying on the cross shows that he is human but his resurrection proves that he is divine. Had Christ not risen from the dead, our faith is useless. Christianity would be inexplicable without it. By his resurrection, Christ not only frees us from our sins but also brings us salvation. By it we become heirs to an eternal inheritance. The resurrection of Christ gives us hope and renews strength in him. If only we hold fast to the very end in hope and faith even in the most trying times of persecution, trials and our own small cavalries.
In the Gospel of Luke, the resurrected Christ greets his disciples with “Peace be with you; and they, hitherto cowering in fear, suddenly are suffused with joy and find strength. We are all earthen vessels, subject to all human weaknesses and frailties. Life, whatever state one finds himself in, can be stressful, empty and full of worries. But the Good Book assures us that the peace of God transcends all understanding, to guard our hearts and mind in Jesus Christ. Only the Spirit of God can turn our fears and anxieties with peace and gladness. Not the temporal and fleeting joys that this world can offer but God and God alone can fill our hearts with fulfillment and satisfaction. As St. Augustine said—our heart is restless until it finds rest in you.
At the end of the gospel reading, Jesus commands his disciples to preach to all nations the good news of Christ’s resurrection. As believers, we are also commanded by the Church to preach the same gospel of Christ. It may not be as dramatic as what the apostles who went from town to town, city after city and nation after nation but we can follow this gospel injunction by imitating Christ even in the smallest of things and the most trivial of situations we find ourselves in. In the end, God, through Jesus Christ, will reward us with eternal happiness.
Christ’s resurrection is continuing. This I seek to proclaim in everything I do. Last Monday for example, I had a long day that started in a university in Bukidnon and ended with a university in Cagayan de Oro. I talked about federalism in the morning in Central Mindanao University (Musuan) to a mixed group of faculty and students and on the Bill of Rights in the evening to my Xavier University College of Law students for their last meeting with me. In both cases, I was consistent. We must do right not just for the present, but for the future, not just for ourselves but for all of us.
Despite many reasons to despair, I choose to hope and make mine what Paul Ricoeur proposed as a Christian meaning of history. According to this great French philosopher, who was also the philosophical mentor of French President Emmanuel Macron: “The Christian meaning of history is therefore the hope that secular history is also a part of that meaning which sacred history sets forth, that in the end there is only one history, that all history is ultimately sacred.” Ricoeur, in his article, Christianity and the Meaning of History, continued: “On the basis of this faith, life presents itself in the form of a task. One is led to believe that there will always be tasks to perform and opportunities to grasp… Hope speaks from the depths of the descent into the absurd; it takes hold of the ambiguity and manifest incertitude of history and says to me: look for a meaning, try to understand! It is here that Christianity branches off from existentialism. Ambiguity is the last word for existentialism; for Christianity it is real, it is lived, but it is the next to the last word…”
My audiences deserve to be told the truth, to be reminded that things will pass, and to be inspired to dream of and build a better Philippines and world. I will never give up on that. This is the promise of a continuing resurrection.
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