Alleluia! Jesus has risen from the dead! He's alive! We're just ten days into the glorious fifty-day Easter season and already we should be experiencing new life in the risen Jesus. When we meet Jesus risen from the dead, everything changes. Why be afraid when death has been put to death and the tomb is empty? "Death is swallowed up in victory." "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" (1 Cor 15:54-55) Why be trapped in sin when the stone is rolled away? We are "free at last, Lord God almighty, free at last."

We are not only freed from fear and sin but also freed for worship and evangelization. When we believe Jesus is risen from the dead, how can we help but praise Him and tell the world about Him? "They were to be found in the temple constantly, speaking the praises of God" (Lk 24:53). "Surely we cannot help speaking of what we have heard and seen" (Acts 4:20).

Because we personally know the risen Savior, we have been set free from the prison of our old life with all its sins and fears. We are free to "preach to the people all about this new life" (Acts 5:20). In the next forty days, the risen Lord wants to make you a new person with a new life. "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old order has passed away; now all is new!" (2 Cor 5:17) "The One Who sat on the throne said to me, 'See, I make all things new!' " (Rv 21:5)

Rescript:  †Most Reverend Carl K. Moeddel, Vicar General and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, October 16, 2006

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