We just celebrated the greatest day in the liturgical year, yet too often the glory of Easter is not fully appreciated. The celebration of the Resurrection, highlighting the most essential belief we have as Christians, is often overshadowed by other celebrations such as Christmas that have readily captured the Christian imagination. In "Easter Changes Everything" George Wiegel highlights how Easter gives significance to our lives and the birth of Jesus by drawing on Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, an Italian biblical scholar's, reflection on the story of Jesus purifying the temple of Jerusalem.
"In cleansing the Temple, Jesus is declaring that God is now present to his people in a new and perfect way and in a new “meeting tent”: the incarnate Son, “the Word … made flesh” who dwells among us, “full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). He, Jesus, is the new Temple, and to recognize that and live in this new mode of the divine Presence one must “remember,” as St. John writes at the end of the Temple-cleansing story (John 2:22)."
We must celebrate Easter. It is the power of the resurrection that changed everything, that changed both nature and history. "As St. Paul teaches in 1 Corinthians 15, Easter faith is that conviction on which the entire edifice of Christianity is built." As we enter the Easter season, let us remember the great mystery of Our Lord and his resurrection returning to an Easter Faith and allowing it to transform us.
To read George Wiegel's reflections visit First Things
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