Redeemed and Loved

Happy Easter! Since Easter Sunday, the season of Easter continues for 50 days until Pentecost. I want to point out another teaching on the Resurrection from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It is important that we don’t celebrate Easter in a single day. Easter is a season that inaugurated for us a reality that we could never achieve had Jesus not risen from the dead. 

 In the Catholic Tradition, we use the words, “Paschal Mystery”. In the usual and common conversation, these words can be proclaimed or even heard in preaching but we might not know fully what they mean. If you are like me who heard these words (for me in different languages) and just absorbed them without knowing their deeper meaning, I hope this article from the Catechism can help you. The real truth we must welcome is our redemption and love manifested by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. By his death, we are saved and come to know the eternal love of the Father for us. We have always been loved and when we were broken and sinful, Jesus redeemed us.  Take time to ponder the article below as you continue to celebrate the Easter season. 

“The Paschal mystery has two aspects: by his death, Christ liberates us from sin; by his Resurrection, he opens for us the way to a new life. This new life is above all justification that reinstates us in God's grace, "so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life." Justification consists in both victory over the death caused by sin and a new participation in grace. It brings about filial adoption so that men become Christ's brethren, as Jesus himself called his disciples after his Resurrection: "Go and tell my brethren." We are brethren not by nature, but by the gift of grace, because that adoptive filiation gains us a real share in the life of the only Son, which was fully revealed in his Resurrection.” CCC 654.

In the spirit of new life, like newborn children, let us humble ourselves and take this eternal gift of the resurrection into our hearts. Let us be generous also, to share this gift of the Paschal mystery in our community. Do you know someone who is struggling? Invite them to pray with the risen Lord. Happy Easter redeemed and loved brethren, through the Paschal Mystery.

Jesus thy Kingdom come! In my heart through Mary! ~Fr. Gabriel