Today is a joyful celebration of life. We are joyful not only because our Lenten journey of preparation has ended. Today, we celebrate a renewed faith and journey into the mystery and the hope of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus the Anointed One, the Son of Man and the Son of God, is the source of our celebration. Jesus Christ is the light of the world who gives light to our journey into the mystery of his resurrection, and calls us to embrace the hope of what and who His light reveals. Jesus calls us to embrace the breadth and depth of His light and His Spirit as we journey with him in a renewed commitment of faith to his way of life.
We are like the disciple Jesus loved who went into the empty tomb and believed. Today, we are the disciples Jesus loves and we believe. Jesus prayed that all those who believe in him will be one with him and the Father, just as he and the Father are one (Jn 17:20-22). We are children of the light (Mt 5:14). We are the handiwork of God, created in Christ Jesus for good works that God has already prepared for each of us to do (Ep 2:10). The celebration of Easter marks our call to become one with God by believing in Jesus Christ and imitating his good works.
For us, the vision offered by the empty tomb is therefore not one of death, but of life. Not one of despair, but of hope. This vision of hope speaks to the nature of our calling—to be visionaries of life and hope to all, especially to those who are near and dear to us. Our hope is that our light, in turn, will lead others in their journey to the Father (Mt 5:16).
Our journey of faith can be a challenge at times, for sure. Like the ancient Hebrews, saved by God from the overwhelming challenge of the Red Sea, we too often face challenges on our journey. Each of us faces our own Red Sea, and when we do, the light of Christ helps us navigate the rough waters. Sometimes we don’t even realize who helped us. Sometimes we mistakenly think we helped ourselves, we did it all on our own. Sometimes we don’t see that the single set of footsteps in the wet land of the pushed back waters belong to the one who carries us—Jesus Christ, the light of the world.
And so, what do we do when we get to the other side of our Red Sea (and, by the way, sometimes we go through the Red Sea more than once)? We accept the fact that we are not alone. We are not abandoned. We have the light of Christ who gives us the courage and determination to continue our journey of faith (Jn 1: 9-12).
The prophet Ezekiel helps us understand how to fulfill our commitment of faith. Speaking on behalf of the Lord, Ezekiel says that the Lord will remove our hearts of stone and give us a new heart and a new spirit. Our new hearts will be made of flesh and will enable us to walk in the way of the Lord and keep his statutes (Ez 36:26-27). This natural heart, infused with the Spirit of God, is the heart God gave us at our creation.
It’s just that sometimes, struggles and disappointments in life often lead to bitterness and resentment, and these become stones in our hearts. These stones make it harder to love ourselves and others, let alone God. When we allow God to remove our stony hearts and restore our natural hearts, however, we can do the will of the Father, especially in how we treat others.
We know from scripture what Jesus expects of us—feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, welcome the stranger. Jesus is the voice of love that we have heard many times. Our belief and hope in the resurrection make it easier to follow his call to do the will of his heavenly Father. We listen and find the courage to stop judging ourselves and others. We treat ourselves and each other the way God treats us—with great tenderness and enduring love. We reject oppression. We become peacemakers. We accept the truth that we receive God’s love without cost, without effort. We seek the Lord where he may be found. We live in the light of Christ and are able to perceive that God is near to us. Whether we are in the Red Sea or on the other side, God calls us to listen to His beloved Son “that we may have life to the full” (Jn 10:10).
Living our faith is truly a life-long spiritual process of renewal and conversion. In that sense, Easter is a celebration of the Lord finding each of us—AND—each of us finding the Lord. This life-giving hunt for each other is a spiritual journey that may wax and wane, but ultimately leads to our spiritual healing. All healing comes from the risen Christ, who continually shines his light to show us the way to the Father.
For that reason, our celebration today includes gratitude for our relationship with Jesus Christ, for this relationship of faith brings salvation and makes us whole (Knight, “Living God’s Word”). But, faith in Jesus Christ is not the result of a mere passive belief in the Word of God. We can’t go limp and just wait for Jesus to carry us off to heaven. Rather, the Word of God compels action, and true faith is our response to that Word. Faith in the risen Jesus Christ is therefore nothing less than a new life in the Spirit, carried out in word and deed.
Living in the Spirit means that we dare to be Christ to others. We dare to be Christ each time we renew our commitment to be just and good to others. We live in the Spirit of Christ when we do not give up on life just because virtue does not pay off, or when things don’t go our way. Life in the Spirit enables us to remain true to our convictions even when doing so appears to us as a disadvantage. The Spirit empowers us to be true to ourselves and true to our conscience as disciples of Christ.
As Pope Francis reminds us, the Spirit of Christ prepares the whole Christian community of disciples to care for those who are most vulnerable so that no one is ever robbed of hope for a better future. Our sure guide in this way of life is the Lord’s words in the great parable on the Last Judgement: “I was a stranger and you welcomed me” for “just as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you did it to me” (Mt 25:35-40; Spes non confundit, Pope Francis 2025, 13).
For that reason, the Spirit enables each of us to be loving, kind, patient, understanding, merciful and just towards others, especially the poor and marginalized members of society. Clearly, we are not all these things to all people at all times. But gradually, over time, and sometimes even with great effort, we can live as disciples of Christ in the fullest sense with the help of the Holy Spirit. All that God wants and expects from us is sincere, honest effort to do what we can.
In the end, life in the Spirit of Christ is a gift of the Holy Spirit offered to all. We accept and develop that gift in a fundamental way with the light of Christ. The light of Christ directs our lives and leads us on our journey through life. The sign posts for the journey given by Jesus are simple. Trust in Jesus and allow God to make us whole. Here I am Lord. Tell me what to do Lord, and I will do it. We hear, we act, and we are made whole (Is 55:2-3).
We thus have reason to be thankful to God in our Easter celebration of the resurrection. We all need the light of Christ to grow in faith by leaving behind an old way of life and taking up a new one. The new way that we seek is the way of the Lord. Finding that way is a spiritual rebirth and gift from Jesus Christ, the Light of the World. Our hope is to embrace his light to the fullest extent as we once again celebrate our Easter gift of faith.
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