The Resurrection is Real
God, the creator of the universe, is nailed to the cross! Hammer blows echo throughout time. The sky grows dark. Angels fall down in adoration. The cross becomes an object of deepest veneration. Sinners find forgiveness as blood washes away the stain of sin. Our tears join that of the angels.
After we come back to reality, we start to realize the resurrection is real for all time. In 1583 Saint Philip of Neri called a teenager back to life because he had wanted forgiveness before he died. This miracle was reminiscent of Jesus calling Lazurus back to life. Christ seemingly arrived too late to help. Lazarus was dead. St Philip arrived when Paolo was lifeless. Philip prayed briefly then cried out, “Paolo awake!”
Paolo remembered clearly what he had experienced in death. There he was reunited with his mother and one of his sisters. Paolo came back to confess his sins and thus shorten his time of purgatory. Acting through Christ, Philip asked the boy if he wanted to stay on earth. But now, reconciled to God, Paolo went back to eternal life in heaven.
St Philip Neri’s resurrection story is verified by his biographer Father Bacci and his disciple Father Gallonio. As well, Neri was friends to Saints Charles Borromeo, Ignatius of Loyola and Camillus de Lellis. St John Paul II reinstated the Masses commemorating this event in the 1970’s.
This Lent we are called to journey with Jesus and to get to love him in a deeper way. But how can we love Jesus more if we don’t know him? Father Brendan McGuire uses an egg analogy to explain. Could you love eggs if you have never tasted eggs? In theory you could, but what do they taste like? It would be an empty claim to say you love eggs.
“I love eggs,” McGuire says. “I love eggs fried. I love eggs boiled. I love them poached. I love them hard-boiled. [Sam I am]. I do not care what way they are. I love them in every way. I have tasted them in every way. And I have come to love them because of that.”
Christ loves us and knows us better than we know ourselves. But he wants to be known by us, and he wants to be loved by us. So we are called to know Christ in a deeper way, and to love him in a deeper way. And so we journey through this Lent seeking God, McGuire says.
Our Lenten journey is to come to know God and Christ much deeper than just knowing eggs. We look for a relationship with God. “I ask you to commit more time to prayer in this Lenten journey,” McGuire says. Listen to Christ in the New Testament and allow him to reveal himself to you.
God tells us at the transfiguration, “This is my beloved son. Listen to him.” If we travel through the scripture stories with Jesus, we will get to know many aspects of him.
The journey of Lent ends with the final words of Jesus on the cross. He forgives: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” “Today you will be with me in paradise.” Heaven is there for us if we repent. “Woman, here is your Son!” Jesus gives us his mother Mary to turn to for all our needs.
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