04/11/2007 Bishop Robert Vasa

Easter, the Church’s most significant celebration of the entire Liturgical Year, was likewise celebrated this year despite the specious claims to have found the bones of Jesus.

Last year the nearly comical threat to Easter was the admittedly fictional claim that newly discovered documents had confirmed, among other things, that Mary Magdalene really was the “disciple whom Jesus loved.”

These kinds of attempts to disparage the authenticity of the Divinity of Christ, to discount His Resurrection, to ruin His reputation are both distressing and interesting. They are distressing, unfortunately, because the faith of many Catholics and Christians is so poorly informed that these works of fiction truly do produce fears, doubts and anxieties which do not trouble those whose faith is better informed.

It was rather consoling to read in the Gospel of Monday morning’s Mass the account of the first denial of the Resurrection recorded by Saint Matthew. In the 28th Chapter we read that the soldiers who had been hired to guard the tomb came to the chief priests and told them about the empty tomb. The response of the leaders: “They assembled with the elders and took counsel; then they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, telling them, ‘You are to say: His disciples came by night and stole Him while we were asleep.’ If this gets to the ears of the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” (Matthew 28:12-14) Ever since that time there have been a variety of attempts to engender doubts in the minds and hearts of believers about the authenticity of the Resurrection of the Lord.

I said that these attempts to disparage the Resurrection and those who believe in it were both distressing and interesting. I find it most interesting because these attempts verify that the Resurrection of the Lord is, in fact, a tremendously important, significant and foundational event. These attempts verify the statement of Saint Paul in his letter to the Corinthians: “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.” (I Cor 15:14)

It would seem that the enemies of the Church understand this truth better than many Catholics. Those who oppose the Church and Her teachings understand the significance of the Resurrection and that, I believe, is why there is such an eagerness on their part to grasp at any hint, rumor, myth or bit of fictional writing which they can use to convince poorly catechized Christians that Christ did not truly rise from the dead and that therefore “their faith is in vain.”

The Divinity of Christ and the reality of His Resurrection are the keystones of the Church, the cornerstones of Her teachings. The world is not interested in the Resurrection of Christ in and of itself. These secularists can readily dismiss the resurrection for themselves and allow poor deluded Christians to continue on in their willful self deception. They understand, however, that the authenticity of the teachings of the Church, some of which they virulently despise, is essentially tied to the truth of the claims of the Resurrection of the Lord. They understand the positive application of Saint Paul’s dictum; If Christ is risen from the dead then everything He taught and everything the Church He established teaches has divine credibility.

In this we begin to see how significant the Resurrection is for our living of our Catholic Faith. If Christ is not risen then all of the hard teachings of the Church, the ones rejected by secularists, disappear. If Christ is not risen then abortion is just another medical procedure. If Christ is not risen then contraception has no moral character. If Christ is not risen then cloning and embryonic stem cell research is just science. If Christ is not risen then there really are no divinely inspired parameters or limitations on modes of sexual expression. If Christ is not risen then the world is free of any and all “restrictions” which the outdated, old tired ethics seem to be “imposing” on a modern, progressive, sophisticated, up to date, “with it,” “what’s happening now” world. It seems to me that the obsession of the world with the Resurrection of Christ has less to do with trying to ascertain a fact of history than it does with pulling the plug on the moral authority of the Church.

We begin to see that the Resurrection of the Lord while being, certainly, a sign of hope for our own future resurrection, also stands as a firewall between humanity and the forces of evil determined to demean human dignity and morality. The Resurrection also creates a dilemma for any Catholic who rejects the teachings of the Church. It may not appear, at first blush, that a rejection of the Church’s teaching on abortion, contraception, in vitro engendering of life, sterilization, homosexuality, embryonic stem cell research, assisted suicide, gender appropriate marriage, and the like have anything to do with the Resurrection but our adherence to these teachings is ultimately based on the fact that we believe in the Resurrection of the Lord. On the other hand, any rejection of these teachings is ultimately a witness to the world that we do not really take this business of the Resurrection all that seriously. If Christ is not risen then our faith is in vain; but if He is risen then the teachings of the Church, especially those under attack by the same forces which attack the Resurrection, need to be taken very seriously.

I do not, in any way, want to minimize or devalue the Resurrection by suggesting a connection with a very simple poem by William Carlos Williams, “The Red Wheelbarrow” but perhaps it will help bring home the need for us to consider much more deeply the significance and the global ramifications of the Resurrection. Poet Williams writes: “so much depends upon a red wheel barrow. glazed with rain water. beside the white chickens.”

Since (not if) Christ is risen from the dead we as Christians and Catholics need to recognize that: so much depends upon. the Resurrection of Christ. celebrated each Easter. in the midst of great grandeur.

Do not underestimate the significance of the Lord’s Resurrection. It not only concerns our future, it very much concerns our present living relationship with Christ, with His Church and with the counter cultural teachings of His Church.