Resurrection Strength

Finding strength from the presence of the risen Lord.

In face of all this, what is there left to say? If God is for us, who can be against us? He that did not hesitate to spare his own Son but gave him up for us all—can we not trust such a God to give us, with him, everything else that we can need? (Romans 8:31) 

This encouraging word of Saint Paul vividly expresses the full extent of the love of God the Father and His eternal pledge of always being with us by our side. However, in this post Easter setting in Jerusalem, the disciples were yet to fully appreciate this wonderful resurrection truth. We find strength and courage in the promise of the One who destroyed death forever, “I am with you until the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20) This new light scatters the darkness of fear and uncertainty. Moved by the power of hope and the knowledge of God’s profound love revealed in Christ Jesus, we remain ever determined to build a Culture of Life.

On one occasion Michelangelo, the great artist, turned on his fellow artists in a spirit of indignation. He said: “Why do you keep filling gallery after gallery with endless pictures on the one theme of Christ in weakness, Christ on the Cross, and most of all, Christ hanging dead? Why do you concentrate on the passing episode as if it were the last work, as if the curtain dropped on Him with disaster and defeat? That dreadful scene lasted…a few hours. But to the unending eternity, Christ is alive; the stone has been rolled away and He rules and reigns and triumphs!”

The Easter message — He is Risen! — fills every generation with a sense of astonishment and joy. It is God who gives life and receives it back again. It is God who declares that all life is precious and good. It is God who reveals the real nobility of man and woman. It is God who states poignantly in Jesus, the Risen Lord, His desire “that all might have life and have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10)

God we are blind, but you open our eyes,

To see your glory revealed through your son Jesus Christ,

Who died and rose again to lead us into life.

God we are deaf, but you unstop our ears,

To hear the power of your resurrection story,

Once we were dead but now in Christ we are alive.

God we are dumb, but you set free our tongues,

To rejoice and sing with all the hosts of heaven,

Holy, holy, holy is the one

who transfigures our world with the Spirit of life,

Holy, holy holy is the one

who redeems and makes whole all who respond,

Holy, holy holy is the one

in whose light we see that all creation will be made new.  Amen