Dear Saints,

This is it: the day we’ve been preparing for all Lent. Of all the significant moments throughout the liturgical year, Easter Sunday is the one that makes all the difference. It all comes down to one, simple question: is it real?

If Christ did not rise from the dead, then everything that came before is a lie. The miracles were mere spectacle; the sermons were just clever stump speeches; the call to follow him was (at best) an irresponsible power-grab. We’d do well to ignore the whole thing as the rantings of a snake-oil salesman and his unstable sycophants.

But if Christ did rise from the dead, nothing can ever be the same again. If God literally became a man, and that man actually died on a cross for love of us, and that cross truly became the source of the world’s salvation - that changes everything.

The apostles who were there insisted that the resurrection really happened. So ardent was their conviction, they were willing to die for it - and often did. Just as significantly, they were willing to live for it. Are we?

Believing in Easter is an earthshaking prospect. It means turning our lives over to God and letting him upend every expectation, from the big dreams to the details. That’s why Lent was such a valuable exercise, because it prepared us to detach and let him take over. And now that we’re ready to start living for his plans and purposes, this is when things really get exciting: supernatural gifts start flourishing; relationships start bearing the sweetest fruit; and the puzzle pieces start fitting together, as life on earth is infiltrated and ordered by the power of heaven.

In short, things get real.

Christ’s Peace,

Father Daniel

δοῦλος Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ