16 April, Antonio, Cardinal Bacci: Meditations for Every Day

The Meaning of Easter

1. Today the Church adorns herself in festival array. Gone are the lengthy lamentations of Holy Saturday and the sorrowful recitations of the Passion, and in their place is the glad cry of Alleluia, the hymn of victory over death and sin. The true joy of Easter lies not merely in external celebration, however, but in the spiritual gladness of the soul. As Jesus has conquered death and sin, so we must purify ourselves of every trace of guilt by a good Confession and must be sure that it will result in a practical renovation of our lives. We should approach Jesus in the Blessed Eucharist with greater fervour and humility, and with greater trust in His goodness and mercy. When we have received Him into our hearts, we should ask Him to renew and transform us in Himself. He is everything, and we are nothing without Him. He is strong; we are weak. We are capable only of feeble desires to do good, but He can make them effective by His grace. We should not be satisfied with forming general resolutions when we go to Confession and receive Holy Communion at Easter. We should examine the depths of our soul and discover the sin which we are most accustomed to commit and the virtue which we are principally lacking. As a result of our investigation we should form a particular resolution to combat this sin and to practise this virtue. It is only in this way that our celebration of Easter can inaugurate the beginning of a genuine self-renewal which will gain momentum daily until it becomes a true spiritual resurrection. It will be a hard battle which will necessitate a constant vigilance and a readiness to begin again every time we realise that we have fallen. It will require an unfailing spirit of prayer, but the final victory will bring us such happiness that worldly pleasures will seem empty and illusory by comparison.

2. In the course of this battle for our spiritual resurrection it is necessary for us to grow continually in Jesus. When we make a good confession at Easter He favours us anew by means of His grace. When we receive Holy Communion He comes to us and is really present in our souls. But in what way is He present? Sometimes He is silent and hidden. He may seem to be asleep, as He slept in the Apostles' boat on the sea of Galilee when the waves were raging violently all around them. Often we have Jesus within us, but do not listen to His voice. He does not live actively in us; He does not speak to us. Why is this? It is because we are distracted and indifferent, absorbed in the petty affairs of this world. We must be fervent. It is necessary to listen for His voice, to be united to Him, and above all to love Him. Then our actions will not be our own, but His. He will grow in us by His grace and we shall act in Jesus, with Jesus, and for Jesus. Then Jesus will be everything to us and we shall be able to say with St. Paul: “It is now no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me.”(Gal. 2:20) Does this goal seem too difficult to attain? Does it seem that it is not meant for us? Such a doubt is an insult to Our Lord, Who has told us to be perfect as His heavenly Father is perfect. (Cf. Mt. 5:48) It is enough, however, that we should earnestly desire to reach this goal and should try with the help of God's grace to come gradually nearer to it every day.

3. This is the resurrection which should take place in us this Easter. Think seriously. How many Easters have we spent? Have they represented a constant improvement in our lives, or have we been static or even getting worse? In the Hebrew tongue Pasch means a passing or transit; specifically, it refers to the passing of the Lord. It will be a tragedy if Jesus passes us by without stopping to rest with us in order to claim us as His own and to make us holy. This Easter could be our last. The thought should be a warning for us. God's goodness is infinite, but there is a limit to His graces and favours. We often impose this limit ourselves by the degree of our co-operation. Our eternal salvation depends largely upon ourselves.