The resurrection calls us to bring others to Jesus

FR. JONATHAN WALLIS: It’s hard to proclaim Christ to our hostile culture . . .

Fr. Jonathan Wallis

Alleluia, the Lord is risen! He is risen indeed, Alleluia! With the Lord Jesus Christ’s resurrection, the world is changed. Sin and death are conquered and the gift of eternal life is offered to us.

Heaven is now our true end. It’s this end that informs every decision and action in our lives. We live, not within the horizon of this world, but within the horizon of eternity. Within the person of Jesus, time and eternity meet. Divinity and humanity are definitively joined; neither nature is confused with the other, but united in Christ so as to show us God’s human face and to lead us to the Father.

Daily life plays a particularly important role in our journey home. The resurrection changes the way we live in the world. How we live matters. With every decision, we have the opportunity to take small steps that lead us closer and closer to our true home

Lent calls us to repentance and conversion of life. For 40 days, we dedicate ourselves to prayer, fasting and almsgiving. We are more attentive to the ways we have sinned and make a firm resolution to keep Jesus at the center of our lives. Easter offers us the opportunity to focus on how we will proclaim and live out the joy of the resurrection. We do so primarily within ourselves, within our families and with those we interact with.

Christian life requires that we have a deep, personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Nothing can take the place of our own reception of the sacraments, reflection upon sacred scripture, praying the rosary, spending time before the Blessed Sacrament and meditating on the lives of the saints. At the exact same time, we are also called to share the life of Christ within our families, friends, colleagues, employer, employees, and all we meet.

These two demands are not to be placed in opposition but, like the union of God and man in Christ, lived out in a way that one spills over into the other. The fruit of contemplation is shared with our neighbor; the forgiveness we receive through the sacrament of Penance leads to greater charity at home; our reception of the Eucharist invites us to take greater care of the poor and needy.

Integrating the interior and exterior aspects of following and proclaiming Jesus helps to avoid the trap of turning our faith into an individualist endeavor on the one hand, or reducing our public proclamation of the resurrection to social activism on the other. Christians always function as members of Christ’s body. Each has a particular call they must carry out within the broader functioning of the whole.

This idea is beautifully described by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI in his encyclical Spe Salvi. He focuses on the particular hope that Jesus offers to the world and how we might reflect that hope in our lives. “Our lives are involved with one another, through innumerable interactions they are linked together. No one lives alone. No one sins alone. No one is saved alone. The lives of others continually spill over into mine: in what I think, say, do and achieve. And conversely, my life spills over into that of others: for better and for worse” (#48).

Care for ourselves and our neighbor is united in Jesus. Unity with Christ begins now. Heaven is our goal, but we decide in our daily routine whether or not we will walk toward that goal or away from it. We decide if we are going to live in isolation or are going to lead others to Jesus.

Following Christ is never easy. Proclaiming him in the midst of a culture that is more and more hostile to him is challenging. However, we never have to go it alone. The Church teaches and guides us, the saints intercede for us, and the life of grace we receive in the sacraments strengthens us to live ever more fully the joy of the resurrection.

Easter offers us the opportunity to meet our risen Lord. It offers us the opportunity to meet Jesus Christ, triumphant over sin and death. In the joy of the resurrection, the meaning and goal of our life is revealed. From the encounter with Jesus, we are able to proclaim him to the world. We see ourselves not in terms of isolated individuals doing the best we can in a very dark and dangerous world. Instead, we are united one with another. We have a responsibility for our brothers and sisters. United with them, let us proclaim that Jesus is the true hope and destiny of every person.

FR. JONATHAN WALLIS is the associate director of formation at Holy Trinity Seminary in Irvine, Texas, and chaplain of Legatus’ Fort Worth Chapter.