I like bottom lines. St. Paul provides our faith with a very clear bottom line: No resurrection, no faith! He writes, “If Christ has not been raised then our preaching is useless, and your believing it is useless. Indeed, if our hope in Christ has been for this life only, we are the most unfortunate of all people” (1 Corinthians 15: 14-19).
Our Faith is grounded, rooted, and confirmed in the resurrection of Jesus.
No one witnessed the actual rising of Jesus on Easter morning. Indeed, initially, all his disciples knew for certain was that his tomb was empty. There could have been any number of explanations for the empty tomb. But with the appearances of the risen Jesus to Mary Magdalene and to so many others after her, the explanation for the empty tomb becomes abundantly clear: the tomb is empty because Jesus has risen!
The disciples spent the rest of their lives in witness to that one simple but fundamental truth of our faith: The Crucified Jesus has risen! Death is not the last word for Jesus, nor is it the last word for those who believe in Jesus.
This simple, profound, and wonderful fact of faith has turned the whole world and all of creation on its head!
For us Christians, belief in life after death prompts us - not to neglect or to deny this world- but to live each day and every moment in it just as Jesus lived: by proclaiming Gospel good news by lives of selfless love, concrete compassion, ready forgiveness, active justice, and whole-hearted mercy.
Faith is not foolish at all. Indeed, it is life-giving in every possible way, from the nooks and crannies of our everyday lives with one another to every world-transforming effort at justice and peace, love and mercy, human kindness and care.
Believers change the world; they make it a better world. Why? Because Jesus, their Lord, is risen!
Rev. Lewis S. Fiorelli, OSFS
Provincial
Wilmington-Philadelphia Province
