THE JOY IN THE RESURRECTION

May the Peace of Christ be with you. This is not the peace that the world gives but the presence of Christ’s love in us and through us to our unique world. Here are a few of my reflections as a result of my Lectio Divina (Philippians 2:5).

• There can be no joy of the Resurrection unless each of us pays the price for that treasure. This one time a year reminder of the Resurrection is just a remembrance of each day where we must die to ourselves to rise with Christ to new life. It is not a one-time event, but something that we infuse into each day to give us meaning and purpose. It becomes so automatic that we sometimes don’t appreciate it fully. The Church Calendar provides those willing to pay the price of their free will and time to enter into this joy. Contemplation is free but it costs you abandoning everything for the love of Christ.
• The more you prepare for this cosmic event of the Resurrection the more you will realize what it is in your life, something you would sell all you have to possess. If this is not the case, the train has left you standing at the station once again, as it has me in the past.
• The Resurrection is a sign of contradiction, a paradox that cannot be explained by the world in which we live. If you can’t see this, then you need to clean the glasses you received from God at your Baptism. You put those on when you accepted Christ as your Savior, the Messiah (John 20:30-31) and if you can’t see, you need to receive the Sacrament of Making All Things New (Reconciliation) to wipe them with the cloth Mary used to wipe Christ’s face while he hung on the cross. This is total folly to the Gentiles and a stumbling block for the Jews, but for those who keep trying to have in them the mind of Christ Jesus (Philippians 2:5) each day, it is a joy that comes from abandoning all THINGS in favor of possessing the heart of Christ.
• Church is not only the place you go to on Easter to fulfill your obligation as a Catholic, it is much more. Church is taking the mystery of the Eucharist that happens in that building into your heart and carrying it with you each day. You are a Christopher (Christ-bearer). To those that love Him, Christ has entrusted His own love to us to share it with those around us.
• It is not you who have chosen Christ (although we believe in Him) but rather we are chosen by the Father to be adopted sons and daughters. At the Nativity, we are blessed that God loved us so much that he gave his only begotten Son to be our Savior, to pay the price for our redemption by dying on the cross and voluntarily giving up his life for the sins of humanity. 
• One of the most horrifying pictures of the Devil in my mind is one where I see him laughing uncontrollably at me because I was too busy with my agenda to see the true reality of the Resurrection unfolding around me each day. Satan would say to me, “You fool! You had everything in that life could possibly offer you, riches, cars, adulation, fame, happiness with your family, and you missed the total purpose why you are here. You had all the hints and chances in the world to see Christ but you were blinded by your own pride and obstinance. You were so preoccupied with yourself that you did not even know what you did not know, that you are destined to be an heir of the kingdom of heaven. You blew it! Welcome to my kingdom where I will remind you every day how ignorant and lazy you were to think that you could be god. God even sent his Son to give you the divine equation with which you could have unlocked the mysteries of life itself, but you could not see nor hear what Christ told you. You failed to go within you to listen to your heart. You got what you deserved, ME, forever. Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! “
• See what Satan looks like, at least in the movie, “The Little Prince.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXonK8EBqmk
• The Resurrection means Christ is alive, now, each day, just as He was when he walked the streets of Jerusalem and felt the warm sun on His face. The Eucharist is the proclamation of Faith that Jesus does not die but is present transubstantially as the body of blood of Christ, true soul, and divinity of the Son of God. If you don’t believe this, you need to wipe off your glasses again. Reason alone won’t get you there, any more than reason alone can bring you, love. 
• The Christ Principle is the solution to the formula of divinity, the divine equation. There are three separate universes: physical, mental, and spiritual. The Christ Principle is the spiritual universe and makes all things new.

OTHER SITES YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT Here is a wonderful YouTube from the place where I went to school, St. Meinrad Archabbey, Indiana. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmx-LA4kadQ This is the Exultet, the Easter Song of Joy.  Listen to it and savor the words.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4cXnHTUCY4 Joyful Easter!