Obviously, today we celebrate the greatest moment in Christianity: the resurrection of Jesus Christ. St. Paul explains that His resurrection defines ours. If Jesus did not resurrect, then neither do we. So, through Jesus’ resurrection we receive the promise that we are saved and will resurrect. But what does that mean? A good answer to that question can be found in understanding what happens if we are not saved.

Jesus opens the door for us to eternal life with our creator in Heaven. St. Paul reminds us that Heaven is truly beyond our imagination. St. Irenaeus explains that Heaven is where we are fully human and fully alive. It is where we are in union with God and one another. We can assume those who are not saved find something completely different.

Earlier this week, we read the account in which the Pharisees not only plot against Jesus; they plot to kill Lazarus, whom Jesus resurrected from the dead. I always like to cite after this reading, that one has to be intensely evil to plot to kill someone who has resurrected from the dead. Indeed, this explains why Jesus never returned to the pharisees after his own resurrection, they were so evil and blind, their hearts so hardened that they would have tried to kill Him again.

Without Jesus’ resurrection, there would be no hope for us to experience all that God promises us and our future would be living in a futile world in which everyone demands their world their way. Ultimately, this would lead to the destructiveness of a war that would bring death to the entire human race.

Some would say that this is the world we are living in now and they would not be too far off, with one exception. We have a choice now to participate in the destructive pattern of a humanity that embraces worldly wisdom or the self sacrificing for a greater good that is the model of Jesus. The former is the road to death and the latter is the road to life. The choice, which was not ours before, is ours now.

The sign of embracing that which leads to death is a militant demand for our church our way, our world our way, our life our way and destruction, even death, to those who stand in our way. The sign of embracing the way that leads to life is our Church Christ’s way, our world Christ’s way and our life Christ’s way even to the point of our own death that we may experience eternal life.

This is the great question that has to be asked in a world that ceases to believe in God, what is its future? Christ says that if we follow Him, we will have eternal life, but a world that rejects Christ only openly promises death. How do you direct your own life if you know there is no future to it but your own death and nothing more? Why would you sacrifice your life if there is no benefit to it? An intensely small group would, but others may be more willing to sacrifice your life for their benefit. That is the rule of anarchy and a life that has no end but death is one that opens the door to the greatest of anarchies.

In our country today there is a move to eliminate God from every sector and in the process what is replacing God is a form of dictatorship that demands one way of thinking or destruction will follow. If your business does not operate the way we want it to operate then you are acting in hate and to stop your hate we will burn down your business. That is tyranny.

Can we stop that tyranny from growing? This tyranny comes from a movement that literally has the devil as its founder. It is rooted in community organizers who embrace the teachings of Saul Alinsky. He taught his people to take Lucifer as their model remembering that he, after all, won his own kingdom. Alinsky does not mention that this kingdom is hell. If you take Lucifer as your model in community organizing, you will create your own version of hell on earth.  You will then say things like: People who disagree with us are haters and we will burn haters’ businesses down. It is the spirit of one who seeks to kill a man who was resurrected from the dead.

Jesus, however, teaches us that we must not seek our will be done, even against those who hate us, but that God’s will be done. The reward is to actually become truly God-like in His Kingdom not “like gods” in Lucifier’s kingdom. Jesus being obedient to the Father not only sits at the right hand of the Father but leads us to His kingdom if only we are first obedient to Him. Therefore, the more we choose His kingdom, the more we find our freedom in His lordship. The more we reject His kingdom, we find us in search for a world that does not exist and destroy everything in our way in order to find it.

Our obedience is based on understanding that God is wiser than we are and so if we are obedient to His wisdom, we embrace the fruit of this same wisdom and find eternal life. If we instead embrace our own wisdom, we enter a world where the governor of one state can declare an economic war on another state and stand with people who say if you do not believe as we believe you are haters and in the name of stopping that hate we will burn your business to the ground, in a country called the United States.

Jesus’ death and resurrection opens the door to a whole new path of human existence to the fullness of life eternally. However, His light shines and reveals the darkness that shows the path that Lucifer has created for those who embrace his way of living. We now have a choice, may we make that choice this Easter and everyday and seek the one who leads us to eternal life.

May you have a blessed Easter Season

Fr. Robert J Carr

Fr. Carr is an alliance member of the New Song Community (Canção Nova). He is the pastor of Holy Trinity Quincy, MA and is the editor of this blog. He is the author of several books, blogs and hundreds of videos all of which you may find on Youtube. He also has a regular radio program on WebRadio Canção Nova. Which he podcasts on Mixcloud and here on Catholicismanew.
You can follow him on twitter as @frbobcarr and on Google Plus as +Fr. Robert Thoughts, comments on the homily? Let us know at Facebook