The resurrection of Jesus Christ has changed the course of history. Life has conquered death. faith is required to open this wonderful new horizon. Let us penetrate the thoughts and emotions that vibrate in the Easter sequence, "Yes, we are sure: in truth, Christ is risen."
Mary was a silent witness of all these events. Let us pray that we will also help us to fully accept the Easter proclamation.
RESURRECTION AS HISTORICAL FACT THAT SAYS WITNESS
Pope John Paul II, January 25, 1989
1. In today's catechesis we face the crowning truth of our faith in Christ, as documented by the New Testament, believed and lived as the central truth by the early Christian communities as fundamental transmitted by tradition, never forgotten by true Christians and deepened today, studied and preached as an essential part of the paschal mystery, along with the cross is the resurrection of Christ. From him, in effect, says the Apostles 'Creed that' the third day he rose from the dead, 'and the Nicene-Constantinopolitan states:' raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. "
is a dogma of the Christian faith, which is inserted into an event happened and verified historically. Try to investigate 'the knees bent regret 'the mystery laid down by the dogma and locked in the event, beginning with an examination of biblical texts attest.
2. The first and oldest written testimony of the resurrection of Christ is found in the First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians. Here the Apostle reminds the recipients of the letter (to the Passover of 57 AD): "I handed in the first place, which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried and rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve, then appeared to over five hundred brethren at once, of whom still live and most others died. Then he appeared to James, then to all the Apostles. And at last to me, as an abortifacient '(1 Cor 15, 3-8).
As shown, the Apostle bean here of the living tradition of resurrection, of which he had learned after his conversion at the gates of Damascus (cf. Acts 9, 3) 18). During his trip to Jerusalem he met the Apostle Peter, and with James, as stated in the Letter to the Galatians (1.18 ff.) Which has been cited as the two main witnesses of the Risen Christ.
3. It should also be noted that in the quoted text, Paul speaks not only of the resurrection occurred on the third day "according to the Scriptures" (reference biblical and theological dimension plays the fact), but at the same time used the witnesses to whom Christ appeared personally. It is a sign, among others, that the faith of the first community of believers, as expressed by Paul in Corinthians, is based on the witness of concrete men known to Christians and that much still lived among them . These "witnesses of the resurrection of Christ (cf. Acts 1, 22), sounding all the Twelve Apostles, but not only them: Paul speaks of the appearance of Jesus even more five hundred people at a time, in addition to the appearances to Peter and James and the Apostles.
4. Against this Pauline text admissibility lose all the hypotheses which have been treated in different ways, to interpret the resurrection of Christ abstracting the physical order, so that was not recognized as a historic event, for example, the hypothesis, as which the resurrection will not be anything but a kind of interpretation of the state in which Christ is after death (state of life, not death), or other assumptions that reduces the influence that Christ resurrection, after death, he continued to exercise (and even resumed with new and irresistible force) on his disciples. These assumptions seem to imply a bias to reject the reality of the resurrection, seeing it as 'product' of the environment, or community of Jerusalem. Or the interpretation or bias are checking the facts. St. Paul, by contrast, uses the text quoted eyewitnesses of the 'fact': their belief in the resurrection of Christ, is both an experimental basis.
is linked to that argument 'ex factis', which we chose and followed by the Apostles in this very first community of Jerusalem. Indeed, when it comes to the election of Matthias, one of the most devoted disciples of Jesus, to complete the number of 'Twelve' was left incomplete at the betrayal and death of Judas Iscariot, the Apostles require as a condition that it was chosen not only 'companion' of them in the period in which Jesus taught and acted, but above all to be 'a witness to his resurrection' through the experience in the days before the time when Christ (as they say) 'was promoted to heaven with us' (Acts 1, 22).
5. Therefore can not present the resurrection, as some critics do neostestamentaria little respect for the historical data as a 'product' of the early Christian community of Jerusalem. The truth about the resurrection is not a product of the faith of the Apostles and other disciples pre-or post-Easter. The text is rather that faith 'pre-Easter' of the followers of Christ was being tested radical passion and death on the cross of his Master. He himself had announced the test, especially with words to Simon Peter when he was at the gates of the tragic events in Jerusalem, 'Simon, Simon! Satan has requested he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail "(Lk 22, 31-32). The jolt caused by the passion and death of Christ was so great that the disciples (at least some of them) initially did not believe the news of the resurrection. In the Gospels we find the proof. Lucas, in particular, tells us that when the women, 'returning from the tomb, they announced all these things (ie, the empty tomb) to the eleven and all others ... all these words seemed to them as nonsense and not they believed "(Lk 24, 9. 11).
6. Moreover, the hypothesis that want to see in the Resurrection a 'product' of the faith of the Apostles is also refuted by what is referred to as the Risen 'in person appeared in their midst and said: Peace be with you. " They, in fact, 'they had seen a ghost. At that time Jesus himself had to overcome his doubts and fears and convince them that 'was',' Touch me and see that a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see I have. " And since they 'did not fully believe it and were amazed' Jesus said to give him something to eat and 'I did eat before them "(cf. Lk 24.36-43).
7. It is also well known episode of Thomas, who was not with the other apostles when Jesus came to them for the first time, entering the upper room although the door was closed (cf. Jn 20, 19). When, on his return, other disciples said: 'We have seen the Lord, "Thomas said wonder and disbelief, and said,' If I see in his hands the print of the nails and put my finger in the hole of the nails and put my hand on his side will not believe. Eight days later Jesus came again to the Upper Room, to satisfy the request of Thomas' the infidel 'and said,' Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and be not faithless, but believing '. And when Thomas professed his faith with the words' My Lord and my God ', Jesus said,' Because you have seen me you believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe "(Jn 20, 24-29).
The call to believe, without trying to see what is hidden by the mystery of God and of Christ, remains still valid, but the difficulty of the Apostle Thomas to support the resurrection without having personally experienced the living presence of Jesus, and then happen given the evidence that provided the same Jesus, which is confirmed in the Gospels about the strength of the apostles and the disciples to accept the resurrection.
why not hold up the hypothesis that the resurrection has been a 'product' of faith (or credulity) of the Apostles. His faith in the resurrection was born, on the contrary (low to action of divine grace) of the direct experience of the reality of the risen Christ.
8. It's the same Jesus who, after the resurrection, comes in contact with the disciples to give them the sense of reality and dispel the view (or fear) that it was a 'ghost' and therefore they were victims of an illusion. Indeed, establishing direct relations with them, just by touch. So in the case of Thomas, just remember, but also at the meeting described in the Gospel of Luke, when Jesus tells the disciples frightened: 'Touch me and see that a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see I have '(24, 39). Les invited to note that the resurrection body, with which it presents to them is the same as was martyred and crucified. That body has yet at the same time new properties: it has 'spiritual fact' (and 'glorified' and therefore no longer subject to the usual limitations of material beings and thus to a human body. (In fact, Jesus enters the Upper Room although the doors were closed, comes and goes, etc..) But while the body is genuine and real. In his identity is material proof of the resurrection of Christ.
9. encounter on the road to Emmaus in the Gospel of Luke, is a fact that makes a particularly visible clear how it has matured in the minds of the disciples of the resurrection of persuasion just by contact with the risen Christ (cf. Lk 24, 15-21). Those two disciples of Jesus, who at the beginning of the road were "sad and helpless' with the memory of all that had happened to Master the day of the crucifixion and did not hide the disappointment experienced when he saw crumble hope in Him as Messiah release ('We hoped that he would be going to redeem Israel') experience after a complete transformation, when they made clear that the Unknown, with which they are spoken, Christ is precisely the same as before, and realize that He, therefore, has risen. Of all the narration is clear that the certainty of the resurrection of Jesus had made them almost new men. Not only had they bought back the faith in Christ, but were prepared to testify to the truth about his resurrection.
All these elements of the Gospel text, converged with each other, prove the fact of the resurrection, which is the foundation of the faith of the Apostles and the testimony, as discussed in the next catechesis, is at the center of his preaching.
the empty tomb and the Risen Christ ENCOUNTER
SS Juan Pablo II, 1 February, 1989
1. The profession of faith in the creed when we proclaim that Jesus Christ 'on the third day he rose from the dead', is based on the Gospel texts which, in turn, give us and make known the first preaching of the Apostles. Of these sources is that faith in the resurrection is, from the outset, a conviction based on a fact in a real event, not a myth or a 'concept', an idea invented by the Apostles or produced by the post-Easter community gathered around the Apostles in Jerusalem, to lift themselves and their sense of disillusionment consequent on the death of Christ on the cross. From the texts it all otherwise and so, as I said, this hypothesis is also critical and historically untenable. The apostles and the disciples did not invent the resurrection (and easy to understand that they were totally incapable of such action). No sign of a celebration of your personal or group that has carried them to guess a desired and expected event and project it on the opinion and the common belief as real, almost by contrast and as compensation for disappointment suffered. There is no trace of a creative process of psychological) sociological) literature even in the primitive community and the authors of the early centuries. The Apostles were the first who believed, not without strong resistance, that Christ had risen simply because they lived the resurrection as an actual event of that person to be able to convince several times with Christ alive again, over forty days. Successive generations of Christians accept that testimony, relying on the Apostles and other disciples as credible witnesses. The Christian faith in the resurrection of Christ is tied, then, a fact that has a precise historical dimension.
2. And yet, the resurrection is a truth which, in its most profound, belongs to the divine revelation: in effect, was announced in advance gradually by Christ over his messianic activity during the pre-Easter period. Often Jesus explicitly predicted that, after having suffered a lot and be executed, resurrected. Thus, in the Gospel of Mark, it is said that after the proclamation of Peter in the near Caesarea Philippi, Jesus' began to teach that the Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes be killed and resurrected three days. He talked about this openly "(Mk 8, 31-32). Also according to Mark, after the transfiguration, 'coming down the mountain when he warned them to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead '(Mark 9. 9). The disciples were puzzled about the meaning of this 'resurrection' and the question became, and agitated in the Jewish world, the return of Elijah (Mark 9, 11): but Jesus reaffirmed the idea that the Son of man should "suffer many things and be despised '(Mark 9, 12). After healing of the epileptic demoniac, in the path traveled almost clandestinely Galilee, Jesus takes the floor again to instruct: 'The Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men will kill him and three days of dead will rise again' . 'But they do not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask' (Mk 9 31-32). It is the second announcement of the Passion and Resurrection, which is the third, when they are on their way to Jerusalem: "Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, we condemn death and deliver him to the Gentiles, and make fun of him, spit, flog him and kill him, and after three days rise again "(Mk 10, 33-34).
3. We have here a prophetic anticipation of events, in which Jesus exercises its role as developer, relating the death and resurrection unified redemptive purpose, and referring to the plan God according to which foresees and predicts what 'should' happen. Jesus, therefore, makes known to the disciples amazed and even frightened some of the mystery underlying theological upcoming events, as indeed throughout his life. Other glimpses of this mystery is found in allusion to the 'sign of Jonah "(cf. Mt 12, 40) that Jesus endorsed and applied to the days of his death and resurrection, and the challenge to Jews on' reconstruction in three days the temple will be destroyed "(cf. Jn 2, 19). John notes that Jesus' speaking of the temple of his body. When raised, then, from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the words Jesus had spoken "(Jn 2: 20-21). Once again we are faced with the relationship between the resurrection of Christ and His Word, to your ads linked 'to the Scriptures. "
4. But beyond the words of Jesus, also developed by the messianic activity in the pre-Easter period shows the power available on the life and death, and consciousness of this power, as the resurrection of Jairus' daughter (Mk 5, 39-42), the resurrection of the youth of Nain (Luke 7, 12-15), and especially the resurrection of Lazarus (Jn 11, 42-44) that occurs in the fourth Gospel as a advertisement and a foreshadowing of the resurrection of Jesus. In the words addressed to Martha during this last episode there is a clear manifestation of self-consciousness of Jesus about his identity as Lord of life and death and keeper of the keys to the mystery of the resurrection: 'I am the resurrection . Whoever believes in me, though he die, will live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die "(Jn 11, 25-26).
All are words and deeds that contain various forms revealing the truth about the resurrection in the pre-Easter period.
5. In the area of \u200b\u200bthe Easter events, the first element to which we is the empty tomb. " Surely it is not itself a direct proof. In the absence of the body of Christ in the tomb where he had been placed could be explained in another way, as indeed he thought for a moment when Mary Magdalene, seeing the empty tomb, meant that some would have deducted the body of Jesus (cf. Jn 20, 15). Moreover, the Sanhedrin tried to get the word out that while the soldiers slept, the body had been stolen by the disciples. 'And they ran that version of the Jews (Matthew notes) to the present day' (Mt 28, 12-15).
Despite this, the empty tomb 'has been for all friends and enemies, an impressive sign. For people of good will its discovery was the first step toward recognizing the "fact" of the resurrection as a truth that could not be refuted.
6. That was primarily for women, that very morning had come to the tomb to anoint the body of Christ. Were the first to welcome the announcement: 'He has risen, not here ... But go, tell his disciples and Peter ... ' (Mk 16: 6-7). 'Remember how he spoke when he was still in Galilee, saying:! Is necessary that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners and be crucified, and the third day rise again!. And they remembered his words' (Lk 24: 6-8).
women certainly were surprised and frightened (cf. Mk 24, 5). Even they were willing to surrender too easily to a fact that even predicted by Jesus, was indeed beyond any possibility of imagination and invention. But in your sensitivity and intuitive finesse them, especially Mary Magdalene, clung to the reality and ran to where the Apostles to give them the good news.
The Gospel of Matthew (28, 8-10) tells us that along the way Jesus himself met them and greeted them they renewed the mandate to carry the news to the brethren (Mt 28, 10). In this way, women were the first messengers of Christ's resurrection, and went to the same Apostles (Lk 24, 10). Done eloquently about the importance of women and in the days of the Easter event!
7. Among those who received the announcement of Mary Magdalene were Peter and John (cf. Jn 20, 3-8). They came to the tomb, not without hesitation, so much so that Mary had spoken of the body being removed from the tomb of Jesus (cf. Jn 20, 2). Arrived at the grave, also found it empty. Ended up believing, after hesitation, because, as John says, 'did not yet understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead "(Jn 20, 9).
Let's face it: the fact was amazing for those men who were at much too superior to them. The same difficulty, showing the traditions of the event, giving it a fully consistent relationship confirms his extraordinary and disturbing impact it had on the minds of the fortunate witnesses. The reference to 'Scripture' is proof of the dark perception had to be faced with a mystery about the Disclosure could only give birth.
8. However, here is another fact to be considered good: if the empty tomb 'stupefied at first sight and could even generate suspicion is correct, the gradual understanding of this initial event, as recorded in the Gospels, ultimately led to the discovery of the truth of the resurrection.
Indeed, we are told that women, and on the Apostles, were faced with a 'sign' particular: the sign of victory over death. If the same tomb closed by a heavy stone, testify to the death, the empty tomb and the stone removed gave the first announcement that there had been beaten to death.
can not fail to impress the consideration of the mood of the three women who went to the tomb at dawn, they said among themselves: 'Who will roll away the stone the door of the tomb? " (Mk 16, 3), and then, when they reached the tomb with great wonder found that 'the stone had been rolled back but was great' (Mk 16, 4). According to the Gospel of Mark found in the tomb to one who gave the announcement of the resurrection (cf. Mk 16, 5), but they were afraid and, despite the claims of the young man dressed in white, 'they fled from the tomb , for trembling and astonishment had come upon them "(Mk 16, 8). How can we not understand? Yet the comparison with the parallel texts of the other evangelists can say that, even fearful, the women carried the announcement of the resurrection, which the empty tomb 'with stone run was the first sign.
9. For women and for the Apostles the lead of 'sign' is concluded by the encounter with the Risen Lord: even then the perception becomes timid and uncertain in conviction and, indeed, in faith in Him who "is truly risen" . So it was for women to see Jesus in his way and listen to your greeting, were thrown at his feet and worshiped him (cf. Mt 28, 9). That's what happened especially to Mary Magdalene, who upon hearing that Jesus called his name, gave him above all the usual nickname: Rabbuni, Master! (Jn 20, 16) and when he lit on the Paschal Mystery radiant ran to carry the news to his disciples: '! have seen the Lord! " (Jn 20, 18). The same happened to the disciples in the Upper Room the evening of that 'first day of the week', when they were finally from Jesus, they were happy about the new certainty that he had entered his heart, 'was pleased to see the Lord "(cf. Jn 20.19-20).
Direct contact with Christ triggers the spark that jumps the faith!
Appearances of the Risen Jesus
Pope John Paul II, February 22, 1989 1
. We know the passage First Corinthians, where Paul, the first chronologically, write the truth about the resurrection of Christ: "I delivered ... As my turn had received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried and rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve ... '(1 Cor 15.3-5). It is, as we see, of a truth transmitted, received and transmitted again. A truth that belongs to the 'deposit of revelation "that Jesus himself, through his apostles and evangelists, has left his church.
2. Jesus gradually revealed this truth in his pre-Easter teaching. Later it found its realization in the events of the Passover of Christ Jerusalemite, certificates historically, but full of mystery.
Ads and confirmation were made especially in the meetings of the risen Christ, the Gospels and Paul tell. Needless to say, the Pauline text presents these meetings (in which the risen Christ reveals himself) in a comprehensive and synthetic (adding to one's final encounter with the Risen Lord to the gates of Damascus: cf. Acts 9, 3-6). The Gospels are, in this regard, rather fragmented entries.
is not difficult to make and compare some characteristic lines each of these occurrences and to bring us together even more to discover the meaning of the revealed truth.
3. We note first that, after the resurrection, Jesus appears to women and the disciples with his body transformed, spiritual fact and engaged in the glory of the soul, but no triumphant feature. Jesus reveals to a great simplicity. Speaking friend to friend, with whom he is in the ordinary circumstances of life on earth. He would not confront his adversaries, assuming a winning attitude, or has been concerned to show his 'superiority', and even fewer wanted to strike him down. Has even has been submitted to any of them. All that tells us the Gospel leads us to exclude that have appeared, for example, to Pilate, who had delivered him to the chief priests to be crucified (cf. Jn 19, 16), or Caiaphas, who had torn vestments by the affirmation of his divinity (cf. Mt 26, 63-66).
the privileges of his appearances, Jesus makes his identity known in physics: that face, those hands, those features that they knew very well, that side which had been transferred, that voice they had heard so many times. Only in the encounter with Paul in the vicinity of Damascus, the light that surrounds the risen nearly blinded the burning persecutor of Christians and thrown to the ground (cf. Acts 9, 3-8), but is a manifestation of the power of him who, and ascended into heaven, impress a man who wants to make an 'instrument of choice' ( Acts 9, 15), a missionary of the Gospel.
4. Also of note is a significant fact: Jesus Christ appeared first to women, their faithful followers, and not to the disciples, and not even the Apostles themselves, although it had chosen to carry the Gospel to the world . It is women who first hoped the mystery of his resurrection, making them the first witnesses of this truth. You may want to reward their delicacy, sensitivity to your message, your strength, that had led to Calvary. Maybe he wants to express a delicate feature of their humanity, which is a kindness and gentleness with which it approaches and benefits to people who have less in the great world of his time. It is what it seems you can conclude from the text of Matthew: "In this, Jesus met them (the women who ran to communicate the message to the disciples) and said:! God save you!. And they came and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them: Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there I see! " (28, 9-10).
also the story of the emergence Mary Magdalene (Jn 20, 11-18) is of extraordinary fineness either by the woman, who says all his passionate and measured delivery to follow Jesus, either by the Master, who treats her with exquisite delicacy and benevolence.
this priority of women in the Easter events will take inspiration from the Church, which over the centuries has benefited greatly from them for their life of faith, prayer and apostolate.
5. Some characteristics of these post-Easter meetings make them, in a sense, paradigmatic because spiritual situations, how often are created in man's relationship with Christ, when one feels called or 'Visited' by Him First we
an initial difficulty in recognizing Christ by those to whom he goes to meet, as seen in the case of the same Magdalene (Jn 20, 14-16) and of the disciples of Emmaus (Lk 24, 16). Not lack a certain feeling of awe before Him He loves, he seeks, but, at the time it is found, there is a certain hesitation ...
But Jesus gradually leads to recognition and faith, both to Mary Magdalene (Jn 20.16), as the disciples of Emmaus (Lk 24, 26 et seq.), And similarly, other disciples (cf. Lk 24, 25) 48). Sign of patient teaching of Christ to reveal Himself to man, to attract, to make, to bring the knowledge of the riches of his heart and salvation.
6. It is interesting to analyze the psychological process that hint at the different meetings: the disciples experience some difficulty in recognizing not only the truth of the resurrection, but also the identity of one who is before them, and appears to be the same but at the same time as another, a Christ 'transformed'. It is not easy for them to make immediate identification. They sense, yes, Jesus, but at the same time feel that he is no longer in the previous condition, and before him are full of reverence and fear.
Where, then, realize, with your help, that there is another, but to the same transformer, they suddenly appear on a new discovery capability, intelligence, charity and faith. It's like an awakening of faith: 'Did not our hearts burning within us while he talked on the way to us the Scriptures? " (Lk 24, 32). 'My Lord and my God' (Jn 20, 28). "I have seen the Lord '(Jn 20, 18). Then an entirely new light in his eyes light up even the event of the cross, and give the true and full sense of the mystery of suffering and death, which ends in the glory of new life! This will be one of the main elements of the message of salvation The Apostles have been from the beginning to the Jewish people, and little by little, of all nations.
7. We must emphasize one last feature of the apparitions of the Risen Christ: in them, especially in the past, Jesus makes the final delivery to the apostles (and the Church) of the mission of evangelizing the world to bring the message of His Word and gift of His grace. Remind
appearance to the disciples in the Upper Room on the evening of Easter: "As the Father sent me, I am sending you ..." (Jn 20, 21), and gives them the power to forgive sins!
And in the appearance in the sea of \u200b\u200bGalilee, followed the miraculous catch and announces that symbolizes fruitfulness of the mission, it is clear that Jesus wants to guide their spirits to the work that awaits them (cf. Jn 21.1 to 23). Confirmed the final allocation of the particular task to Peter (Jn 21, 15) 18): 'Do you love me? ... You know I love you ... Feed my sheep ... Feed my sheep ...'.
John indicates that 'this was the third time Jesus appeared to the disciples after rising from the dead' (Jn 21:14). This time, they not only had become aware of their identity: 'Is the Lord' (Jn 21, 7), but had realized that everything had happened and was happening in those days of Easter, they pledged to each of them (and most particularly to Peter) in the construction of the new era of history, which had its beginning on that Easter morning.
RESURRECTION culmination of the revelation
SS Juan Pablo II 8 March, 1989
1. In the Letter of Paul to the Corinthians, recalled several times throughout these reflections on the resurrection of Christ, we read these words of the Apostle: "But Christ was raised, our preaching is empty, empty is your faith '(1 Cor 15, 14). Clearly, Paul sees the resurrection the foundation of Christian faith and almost keystone of the whole edifice of doctrine and life built on revelation as final confirmation of the whole of the truth that Christ brought. Therefore, all the preaching of the Church from apostolic times through the centuries and all the generations, until today, refers to the resurrection and takes out the driving force, persuasive, and its force. It is easy to understand why.
2. The resurrection was the first confirmation of all that Christ had done and taught รบ '. It was the divine seal put on his words and his life. He had himself indicated to the disciples and adversaries this sure sign of its truth. The angel of the tomb the women remembered the morning of the 'first day of the week': 'He is risen, as he said "(Mt 28, 6). If this word and his promise was revealed to be true also all other words and promises have the power of truth that does not pass, as he himself had proclaimed: "Heaven and earth will pass away but my words shall not pass' (Mt 24 , 35, Mark 13, 31, Luke 21, 33). Nobody could have imagined or pretend most authoritative evidence, stronger, more decisive than the resurrection from the dead. All true, too the most inaccessible to the human mind are, however, justification, even in the realm of reason, if the risen Christ has given the ultimate test, promised by him, of his divine authority.
3. Thus the resurrection confirms the truth of their own divinity. Jesus had said: 'When you lift up (on the cross) the Son of man, then you will know that I am' (Jn 8, 28). Those who heard these words they wanted to stone Jesus, because 'I AM' was for Jews the equivalent of the ineffable name of God. In fact, asking Pilate had his death sentence as the main charge of having "made himself the Son of God '(Jn 19, 7). For the same reason he had condemned in the council as guilty of blasphemy after he said he was the Christ, the Son of God, after the interrogation of high priest (Mt 26, 63-65, Mk 14, 62, Lk 22 70): ie not only the Messiah site as designed and expected by the Jewish tradition, but the Messiah announced by the Lord Psalm 109/110 (cf. Mt 22, 41 et seq.), the mysterious character envisioned by Daniel ( 7, 13-14). This was the great blasphemy, the charge for the death sentence, having proclaimed the Son of God! And now his resurrection confirmed the truth of his divine identity and legitimized the allocation made to Himself, before Easter, 'name' of God, 'Verily, verily I say unto you before Abraham was, I am' (Jn 8, 58). For Jews this was a claim that he deserved stoning (cf. Lev 24, 16), and, indeed, 'took up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and left the temple' (Jn 8, 59). But if they could not stoned, then managed to 'lift' on the cross, the resurrection of the crucified showed, however, it was truly I am, the Son of God.
4. In fact, Jesus even calling himself the Son of man, not only confirmed to be the true Son of God, but in the Upper Room before the Passion, had asked the Father to reveal the Christ the Son of man was his eternal Son, 'Father, the hour has come, glorify thy Son that the Son may glorify you' (Jn 17, 1). '... Glorify me alongside yourself with the glory I had with you before the world was' (Jn 17, 5). And the paschal mystery was listening to this request, confirmation of the divine sonship of Christ, and further, its glorification of the glory which 'had with the Father before the world was "the glory of the Son of God.
5. In the period pre-Easter Jesus in the Gospel of John, he alluded several times to the future glory that is manifested in his death and resurrection. The disciples understood the meaning of these words from her only when the incident occurred.
Thus we read that during the first Easter morning in Jerusalem, after being driven from the temple to the merchants and moneychangers, Jesus answered the Jews who called for a 'sign' of power by the party acting in this way: "Destroy this Temple and in three days I will raise ... He spoke of the temple of his body. When raised, then, from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had said '(Jn 2.19 to 22).
the response also by Jesus to the messengers of the sisters of Lazarus, who asked to go to visit ailing brother, made reference to the events of Easter: "This sickness is not death, is for the glory of God, the Son of God may be glorified "(Jn 11, 4).
was not only the glory he could report to you the miracle, especially since they cause his death (cf. Jn 11, 46) 54), but its true glorification come precisely from his elevation on the cross (cf. Jn 12 32). The disciples understood this very well after the resurrection.
6. Particularly interesting is the doctrine of St. Paul on the value of the resurrection as a determinant of conception in Christ, also linked to his personal experience of the Risen. Thus, at the beginning of the Epistle to the Romans presents: 'Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning his Son , was descended from David according to the flesh, Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ '(Rom 1, 1-4).
This means that from the first moment of human conception and birth (from the lineage of David), Jesus was the eternal Son of God who became Son of man. But in the resurrection, the divine sonship was manifested in all its fullness with the power of God by the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned to life (cf. Rom 8, 11) and was in the glorious state of ' Kyrios "(cf. Phil 2: 9-11, Romans 14, 9, Acts 2, 36), so that Jesus deserves a new title recognition messianic, worship, the glory of the eternal name of the Son of God (cf . Acts 13, 33, Hb 1.1 to 5, 5, 5).
7. Paul had expressed the same doctrine in the synagogue of Antioch of Pisidia, on Saturday, when invited by the heads of the same, took the floor to announce that at the height of the economy of salvation accomplished in the history of Israel between light and shadow, God had raised from the dead Jesus, which had appeared for many days to those who came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who were now his witnesses to the people. 'Also we (concluded the Apostle) to you the Good News that the promise made to the parents God has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus, as written in the Psalms: You are my son, I will I have begotten you "(Acts 13, 32-33; cf. Ps 2, 7).
For Paul there is a kind of osmosis between the glory conceptual the resurrection of Christ and the eternal divine sonship of Christ, which is fully revealed in the victorious conclusion of his messianic mission.
8. In the glory of 'Kyrios' manifests the power of the Risen (Man-God), that Paul knew from experience at the time of his conversion on the road to Damascus to feel called to be an apostle (not one of the Twelve) being an eyewitness to the living Christ, and received from him the strength to face all the work and bear all the sufferings of his mission. Paul's spirit was so marked by this experience, in her doctrine and in his testimony puts the power of the Risen idea of \u200b\u200bsharing the the sufferings of Christ, that it was also pleasing: What had made in his personal experience also proposed to the faithful as a rule of thought and a rule of life: "I count everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord ... gain Christ and be found in him ... and know him the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, trying to get to the resurrection from the dead "(Phil 3: 8-11). And then his thoughts turn to the road to Damascus experience '... Having been myself, because Christ Jesus' (Phil. 3, 12).
9. Thus, referenced texts make clear that the resurrection of Christ is closely linked with the mystery of the Incarnation of the Son of God: compliance, according to the eternal plan of God. Moreover, it is the supreme crown of all that Jesus said and did in his life, from birth to the passion and death, with his works, miracles, teaching, example of a perfect life, and especially with his transfiguration. He never directly revealed the glory he had received from the Father 'before the world was' (Jn 17, 5), but hid the glory with his humanity, until finally emptied (cf. Phil 2, 7-8 ) with death on the cross. In
the resurrection was revealed that "in Christ the whole fullness of the Godhead bodily" (Col 2, 9, cf. 1, 19). Thus the resurrection 'complete' the manifestation of the contents of the Incarnation. So we can say that it is also the fullness of Revelation. Therefore, as we said, it is at the heart of Christian faith and the preaching of the Church
the salvific value of RESURRECTION
Pope John Paul II, March 15, 1989
1. If, as we have seen in previous catechesis, Christian faith and the preaching of the Church are rooted in the resurrection of Christ, since this is the final confirmation and completeness of disclosure, we should also add that is the source of the saving power of the Gospel and the Church as the integration of the paschal mystery. According to Paul, Jesus Christ has been revealed as "Son of God in power according to the spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead '(Rom 1, 4). And transmits to men the holiness because 'was delivered for our sins and was raised for our justification "(Rom 4, 25). There is a double aspect in the paschal mystery of death for freedom from sin and resurrection to open up access to new life.
Certainly the paschal mystery as life and work of Christ, has a deep internal unity redemptive role and its effectiveness, but this does not prevent the various aspects can be distinguished with regard to the effects that derive from it in man. Hence the attribution to the resurrection of the specific effect of the 'new life', as St. Paul says.
2. About this doctrine have to do some indications that, in constant reference to the New Testament texts, allow us to highlight all its truth and beauty.
Above all, we can certainly say that the risen Christ is the principle and source of a new life for all men. And it appears also in the wonderful prayer of Jesus the eve of his passion, John tells us with these words: "Father ... glorify thy Son that thy Son may glorify you. And according to the power that you have given over all flesh, to give eternal life to which you have given him '(Jn 17, 1-2). In his prayer Jesus looks and hugs especially his disciples who warned of the next painful separation that would be verified by his passion and death, but which also promised: "I live, you also will live" (Jn 14, 19) . Ie will have a part in my life, which will be revealed after the resurrection. But the look of Jesus extends to a radius of universal scope. He says, 'Do not pray for them (my pupils), but also by those, who through their word, believe in me ... (Jn 17, 20): everyone should be one thing to share in the glory of God in Christ.
New life given to believers under Christ's resurrection, is the victory over death, sin and a new participation in grace. St. Paul says it concisely: "God, rich in mercy ... die to our trespasses made us alive with Christ '(Eph 2, 4-5). And in the same way San Pedro: 'The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ ... His great mercy, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead will have been born anew to a living hope "(1 Pt 1, 3).
This truth is reflected in the Pauline teaching on baptism: "Therefore we are with Him (Christ) buried by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life '(Rom 6: 4).
3. This new life (life in the Spirit) said the adoption of sons: another Pauline concept of fundamental importance. In this regard, it is 'classic' the passage from the Letter to the Galatians: "God sent his Son ... to redeem those who were under the law and to receive adoption as sons' (Gal 4, 4-5). This divine adoption by the Holy Ghost, makes man like the only begotten Son: "... All who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God '' m 8, 14). In the Letter to the Galatians, St. Paul appeals to the experience of the faithful of the new condition as: 'The proof that you are sons of God is that God has sent into our hearts the Spirit of his Son who cries : Abba, Father! So you are no longer a slave but a son, and his son, then an heir through God '(Gal 4, 6) 7). So there is a new man in the first effect of the redemption: the release of slavery, but the acquisition of freedom comes to becoming an adopted son, and this not so much legal access to inheritance, but the real gift of divine life breathed into man the three Persons of the Trinity (cf . Gal 4, 6, 2 Cor 13, 13). The source of this new human life in God is the resurrection of Christ.
Participation in the new life also causes men to be 'brothers' of Christ, as Jesus calls his disciples after the resurrection: "Go and tell my brothers ..." (Mt 28, 10, Jn 20, 17). Brethren not by nature but by the gift of grace, because that adoptive filiation gives a true and real participation in the life the only begotten Son, as fully revealed in his resurrection.
4. The resurrection of Christ (and, indeed, the risen Christ) is finally beginning and source of our future resurrection. Jesus himself spoke of it to announce the institution of the Eucharist as the sacrament of eternal life, the future resurrection: "He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise the last day" (Jn 6 , 54). And the 'whisper' who heard him, Jesus replied: 'Does this offend you? And when you see the Son of Man ascend to where it was before ...?' (Jn 6, 61-62). This would indirectly indicate that under the sacramental species of the Eucharist gives those who are sharing in the Body and Blood of Christ glorified.
Paul also emphasizes the link between Christ's resurrection and ours, especially in his First Epistle to the Corinthians, he writes: 'Christ is risen from the dead, the firstfruits of those who died ... For as in Adam all die, so also all be made alive in Christ "(1 Cor 15, 20-22). 'In fact, it is necessary that this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality. And when this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality, then the saying that is written! Death has been swallowed up in victory! " (1 Cor 15, 53-54). 'Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ' (1 Cor 15, 57).
The final victory over death, Christ has already achieved, the participant makes to humanity in so far as it receives the fruits of redemption. It is a process of admission to the 'new life', the 'eternal life', which lasts until the end of time. Thanks to this process is formed over the centuries a new humanity: the community of believers gathered at the Church of the Resurrection true community. In the final hour of history, all re-emerge, and those who have been in Christ, have the fullness of life in the glory, the ultimate realization of the community of the redeemed by Christ 'so that God may be all in all "(1 Cor 15, 28).
5. The Apostle also teaches that the redemptive process, culminating with the resurrection of the dead, takes place in a realm of ineffable spirituality that surpasses anything you can conceive and carry out humanely. Indeed, if on the one hand he writes that 'flesh and blood can not inherit the kingdom of heaven, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable "(1 Cor 15, 50) which is the realization of our natural inability for the new life), secondly, in the Letter to the Romans says those who believe that: 'If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in us, He who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwells in you' (Rom 8, 11). It is a mysterious process of spiritualization, which also reach the bodies at the time of the resurrection by the power of the Holy Spirit wrought the resurrection of Christ.
is undoubtedly of realities that are beyond our understanding and rational demonstration, and so are the object of our faith grounded in the Word of God, which, through San Pablo, allows us to penetrate in the mystery that transcends all boundaries of space and time, '' The first man Adam became a living, the last Adam, life-giving spirit '(1 Cor 15, 45). 'And as we have borne the image of the earthly man, we shall also bear the image of the sky' (1 Cor 15, 49).
6. Pending such transcendental final fulfillment, the risen Christ lives in the hearts of his disciples and followers as a source of sanctification in the Holy Spirit, the source of divine life and divine descent, the source of the future resurrection.
This makes sure that St. Paul in the Epistle to the Galatians: "I am crucified with Christ, and not I, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me "(Gal 2, 20). As the Apostle, also every Christian, but still live in the flesh (cf. Rom 7, 5), and spiritualized live a life with faith (cf. 2 Cor 10, 3), because the living Christ, the risen Christ has become the subject of all his actions: Christ lives in me (cf. Rom 8: 2. 10) 11;. Phil 1, 21, Col 3, 3). And life in the Holy Spirit.
This certainly supports the Apostle, as it can and must support every Christian in the work and suffering of this life, as Paul advised the disciple Timothy in the fragment of a letter from him with which we close) to our knowledge and comfort) our teaching on the resurrection of Christ: "Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descendant of David, according to my gospel ... Therefore I endure all things for the elect, that they also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. This saying is trustworthy: If we died with Him, we shall also live with Him if we endure, we shall also reign with Him if we deny him, also will deny us, if we are faithful, He remains faithful, for he can not deny himself ... ' (2 Tim 2, 8-13).
'Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead ': these words of the Apostle gives us the key of hope in the real life in time and eternity.
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