Reflection : Easter Sunday “He is Risen from the dead”

“He is Risen from the dead”

Easter is the celebration of what Pope Paul VI once described as “the unique and sensational event on which the whole of human history turns.” Sensational means beyond the senses, phenomenal, out of this world, and this scarcely covers the significance of the event.

Scripture has no account of the actual happening of the Resurrection of Jesus! We are told of the discovery of the empty tomb and of the appearances of the Risen Lord to the various disciples. It is only by means of these accounts do the disciples make the huge leap of faith from following the man, Jesus of Nazareth, to believing that he was the Son of God, who had triumphed over death.

It was as if somebody who could walk suddenly found the ability to fly. Resurrection is so far beyond the ordinary and earthly life as to be almost incomprehensible, difficult to fathom.

Faith is such a leap from the ordinary human level of existence to the extraordinary and sensational level of the Divine.

On this Easter day, in a time of fear and uncertainty, we thank God for the gift of Faith.

Fr Shane