The Resurrection and the beginning of a new earth

Faith in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ expresses the belief that “Love is strong as death” (Song 8:6). Resurrection is the greater strength of love in the face of death.

When someone values love more highly than life, that is, when someone is ready to put life second to love, for the sake of love, then love is stronger and more than death. If love is to be more than death, it must first be more than mere life. . . then the power of love has transcended the power of the merely biological and taken it into its service. . . .If the power of love for another is so strong that it could keep alive not just one’s memory, the shadow of one’s “I” but that person himself, then a new stage in life has been reached. This is the meaning of the empty tomb, the startling revelation that love has conquered death: Jesus is risen. For love is the foundation of immortality, and immortality proceeds from love alone. The power of God’s love that raised Jesus from the dead is the inner core of my life as well. I am called to die into this love, to let go of all that stifles or oppresses this love; this is the beginning of resurrected life.

But how can I live for another if I am afraid to die to myself?
If I am afraid to die, is it because I am afraid to live?

Only the power of God’s love is stronger than death; in this love I am free.
I must place everything that hinders this love, the lure of science, corporate America, male politics, political power and place these where they rightly belong, below the power of the Spirit.

For now is the moment of resurrection: now is the beginning of a new earth.
I must now live by the power of love alone and I must act as if I am free.

View print-friendly version View print-friendly version
Posted in

3 Comments

  1. Charlotte Tomaino on May 2, 2019 at 5:33 pm

    Grasping the meaning of Kenosis, Jesus’ primary prayer, is the gift of letting go in times that move too fast to hold on.



  2. cjreinhart on April 23, 2019 at 3:49 pm

    the challenge and reality



  3. John McConnell on April 23, 2019 at 12:42 pm

    To die to tangential “reality” is to live in radial “Reality”.



icon-light-1

Related Posts

Dec. Campaign_image only

The Universe as Sacred Story: Bridging Science and Spirit

Teaching undergraduate students this semester has revealed their deepest concerns about technology’s growing influence on human identity. While they grapple with immediate challenges like social media addiction and its effects…

Firefly_f4f7914f-8c8e-4b3a-966c-4c4006df3d16

Endowed with Wonder: Heschel on Science and Religion

According to Hebrew Bible scholar Abraham Heschel, there is embedded within each of us a natural proclivity to wonder, a sense of “unmitigated innate surprise.”[1] A sense of wonder is constitutive of…

St. Francis Prayer for Peace

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.Where there is hatred, let me bring love.Where there is offence, let me bring pardon.Where there is discord, let me bring union.Where there…