The Resurrection

People are puzzled by the whole idea of resurrection. They find it difficult to comprehend, and are at a loss to explain it. They cannot understand it sufficiently well to be confident in speaking about it. To be honest, this is also the case for many Christians - perhaps even you reading this.

But then, that’s how it’s been right from the beginning. The women come away from the tomb afraid, the disciples don’t know what to think, the earliest gospel - Mark - peters off as it tries to describe the events of that morning, and Paul’s letters are convoluted. The essential point for us to grasp is that the resurrection is a person - that of the risen Christ. The earliest disciples, the Church down through the ages, and we today have encountered the risen Lord. We can speak in some way about his resurrection - and ours - but our speech is faltering and difficult.

The Church wisely doesn’t give us a theory of resurrection to think about at Easter but a series of stories that show how the risen Christ is present in his Church. Over the seven weeks of Eastertide, the readings we hear at Mass try to alert us to the powerful presence of him who died and rose again. May we be open to the message that we hear and so convey effectively to others the fact at the heart of the new creation: He is risen!
P.D.