He lives:
Resurrection of Jesus fulfills God's promise

		Living the Scriptures  with St. Paul University  Catholic Center  Sarah Keyes

Lent is this amazing 40-day period that we spend fasting with Jesus.

This is a sorrowful time - we deny ourselves certain worldly comforts in order to gain a mere sliver of Jesus' discomfort in the desert and his journey to the cross.

Thankfully, this is also a joyful time, as we realize in prayer the plentiful blessings we receive from the cross, mainly forgiveness of sins.

Easter Sunday (April 16, 2006) Acts 10:34a, 37-43 Ps 118:1-2, 16-17, 22-23 Col 3:1-4 or 1 Cor 5:6b-8 Jn 20:1-9

But today is Easter, the culmination of Lent. The tomb is found empty because Jesus is resurrected!

We celebrate with family and friends, feast on Easter dinner, and worship in Mass. This day is certainly joyful!

Upon needing to write this article, I asked myself why it is so joyful . . . What makes the resurrection such a big deal?

We spend 40 diligent days meditating on the Cross, but only one really celebrating the Resurrection. Although the Easter season is eight weeks long, our lives have returned to normal and we can easily forget about the church season, whereas in Lent we focus our minds on prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, structuring our minds especially on Jesus.

As a result, my grasp on the cross is much stronger. After all, in every church, there is a crucifix - not an empty tomb. Does our faith short change Easter?

Surely not! Without Easter, Lent - especially Good Friday - is meaningless. Paul tells us in his letter to the Corinthians, "And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins" (1Cor 15:17).

Resurrection is the completion of God's promise: the coming of His Son to save us from our sins and open the gates of heaven. Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of our faith; we believe He is LIVING, ever present in our lives and in the Eucharist.

	Reflection questions • What will you do this Easter season to keep your focus on the resurrected Christ? • How can you see the risen Christ acting in your life?

The cross is about His death. If we stop our meditations there, we lose this living aspect. This makes no sense!

I invite you to meditate on the empty tomb, its image of the burial cloths, and its significance. I urge you to spend heartfelt energy spending the next eight weeks of Easter meditating on Jesus' resurrection in order to gain a stronger understanding of our LIVING Jesus Christ.

Sarah Keyes, a junior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is studying elementary education. She is peer minister at St. Paul University Catholic Center.

St. Paul's Web site is www.stpaulscc.org

Faith Alive!

In a Nutshell The paschal mystery centers on Christ's passage from darkness to light, from death to life -- transitions beginning with suffering, ending with joy. The paschal mystery is called a "mystery" because its meaning is the secret hidden in the depths of all human life. Easter is the wonderful morning that never ends. The paschal mystery has everything to do with our lives now. Catholic News Service 3211 Fourth St NE Washington DC 20017 202.541.3250 cns@catholicnews.com	Food for Thought   If you subtracted Easter from Christianity, you'd have an entirely different religion from the one the world has know the past 2,000 years. The life, you might say, would go out of it. I suppose that without Easter, Christianity still could have become a religion of wonderful teachings on how to live and of quite amazing insights that could have stood the test of time. Still, without Easter, death, it seems, would have been the end of the road. Without Easter, the tone of Christianity would have been so different, certainly less joyful. With Easter factored in, Christianity is life-giving. Because the death and resurrection of Christ are liberating, Christianity represents much more than a body of teachings and insights. full story   Yes, there is something new in the world: Easter! By Father Gerald O'Collins, SJ Catholic News Service Some years ago when ending a course on the resurrection, the students joined me for a eucharistic liturgy. At the presentation of the gifts they each brought to the altar a gift symbolizing the Easter mystery. At the end of the line came two tall students, Mimi and Matthew. When they walked up with nothing in their hands, I wondered whether they would produce something from their pockets. full story  Discerning the significance of the paschal mystery By Father Stephen D. Ryan, OP Catholic News Service When we refer to the paschal mystery, we speak of something at faith's core. The church uses the term "paschal mystery" primarily to refer to Christ's passion, death and resurrection. 1.These events took place at the time of the Passover (Hebrew "pesach"; Aramaic "pascha"). The word "paschal" -- derived from the Greek "pascha" and Latin "pascha," also forms of the word "passover" -- recalls this ancient rite. full story  Easter's proclamation: If we have eyes to see it By H. Richard McCord Catholic News Service "I keep reminding myself that life is changing, not ending," a friend said recently when he described how he was dealing with some difficult situations in his family and work. Looking through the eyes of faith, he was trying to see and embrace the paschal mystery unfolding in his life. Father Ronald Rolheiser, in his book "The Holy Longing," presents the paschal mystery as a process of transformation that begins with suffering and death and moves to new life. He uses the church's journey from Good Friday to Pentecost as a way to unfold the paschal mystery. He sees it as a five-step process: full story
	Faith in the Marketplace   This Week's Discussion Point: Share the memory of an Easter that you hope never to forget.     Selected Response From Readers:
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