April 2, 2010
The Christian Journey
The risen Christ, the Living One, is among us
BY FATHER JIM SAUER
“Alleluia! Christ is risen from the dead!” “Indeed Christ is risen! Alleluia!”
Thus, the Eastern Orthodox greet one another on Easter! They also bring their Easter hams and dyed eggs, homemade breads, and other delicacies for the priest’s blessing to celebrate our new life in Christ. The earth’s bounty symbolizes how “God blesses us in Christ with all good gifts.”
As the women came to Jesus’ tomb to anoint his body that first Easter morning, Luke recalls, “Two men in dazzling garments appeared saying ‘Why do you seek the Living One among the dead? He is not here; he has been raised up’” (Luke 24).
Where were they to find the Living One? According to the angels, he is clearly not among the dead! Therefore, triumphant over death, he must be among the living. Where do we find the Living One today? God’s Spirit inspired Pope St. Leo the Great (+461A.D.) to write, “What was in Christ has now passed over into his Body, the Church.”
Although Christ’s presence fills the entire universe, we find Christ primarily in the Church, his visible body on earth. Christians are the embodiment of the risen Christ. He, who has passed beyond our sight, remains forever incarnate in his Church. The Living One indwells each Christian with the Father and the Spirit! Thus, Jesus addressed Saul on his way to Damascus, “Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?” Notice, he did not say, “Why are you persecuting MY Church?” for through baptism and the Spirit we are so intimately united with Jesus, our Head, that we form one Body.
The Church teaches that Christ is first present in his Church. When God’s People gather in Christ’s name, Christ is already present. Do we really believe this? If we did, this belief would challenge us to welcome every person as if we were welcoming Christ himself! (How difficult it is to look beyond the surface or others’ faults to see Christ!) If Christ truly indwells each person, we should hold everyone in the highest esteem! Blessed Mother Teresa said so often, “We should reverence Christ in each other as much as we reverence Christ in the Blessed Sacrament.” (Saints have an uncanny way of “getting by” with making such outlandish statements!) Christ is Christ — undivided, always one. Christ present in his people is the same Christ present in his Word and Blessed Sacrament.
We congratulate our new members initiated into the Church and those received into full communion during the Easter Vigil. They are real signs of the Living One in 2010 — for they have answered “Yes” to his call either to become his disciples or to become one in faith. During the Easter Season, welcome and thank them because they are the risen Christ’s newest gifts to us, the Church.
It is so essential to understand that the Church, Christ’s visible Body, is where we first encounter the Living One. Each parish must therefore radiate Christ’s presence in a way that he shines through us. If the Church did not exist, the Gospel would cease to be proclaimed where we also find the Living One’s words of everlasting life to us. If the Church did not exist, we would never have the Eucharist, which makes the Living One present among us sacramentally, solidifying our unity with each other and Christ as his Body. Because the Church exists, we encounter the Living One in all the sacraments, which are the visible actions of Christ working through and with his Church.
Look around and you will definitely find the Living One among yourselves! Alleluia!