ONE DAY Albert Camus, the famous atheist and existentialist writer, made the following comment, 'Man needs something which is not of this earth...' This remark is all the more surprising when we bear in mind that Camus believed in the absurdity of life. Camus could not, however, dismiss the fact that hope, that stubborn conviction that there is light at the end of the tunnel, is one of the core aspect of human nature.
In the course of the centuries several 'happiness sellers' have appeared on the world's stage, each one promising this or that remedy to our obstinate sense of unfulfillment. Their mantra was, 'Culture will make us happy!' but in the end, all people were left with was just disappointment. Then they said, 'Scientific progress holds the key to happiness!' but again, all people were left with was just disappointment. Then they invented another mantra, 'Material well-being will make us happy!' and again, disappointment was all human beings were left with. The latest slogan is, 'Freedom from all moral constraints!' The inner emptiness and void left by this last obsessive cry is everywhere evident in our modern world.
We Christians know that that this hope slumbering in the depths of every human being has a name, and that name is: Resurrection.
But why are we capable of believing that Christ actually rose from the dead and lives for ever? Why do we believe that after death the righteous will live for ever with the risen Christ?
The answer is given to us by the Apostles themselves: 'We saw Him after the crucifixion! If you cannot believe in our testimony, then believe in our lives. We had forsaken Him. In our fear we fled from Him. But after seeing Him again in His resurrected body, we became His heralds. For His sake we endured the costs of discipleship, trials and persecutions to the point of martyrdom. No one can endure all this for a lifeless spectre'.
This voice is echoed by the choir of 2,000 years of martyrs. Their voices tell us, 'There are millions of us from Saint Stephen to Maximilian Kolbe right up to Fr. Andrea Santoro (see pg. 28). We followed Christ right to the end, and laid down our lives that we may keep them for Eternity. We are not extremists, we are believers'.
'If you study history with true discernment, you will gradually come to understand that it is humanly impossible for scores of men and women to sacrifice their very lives for someone who is but a fantasy, a ghost. If Christ had not actually risen from the dead, the initial impulse which issued out of Palestine 2,000 years ago would eventually have run dry. If our faith is still thriving then it means that Christ is not an illusion, but a living reality, and He is alive because He has risen!'
The voice of the martyrs is backed by that of the saints. Saint Francis, for instance, a man admired even by non-believers, tells us, 'You admire my life. Do you not realise that I owe everything to the fact that I have believed in Christ, the Risen Christ? I was the son of a money-grabbing merchant, and spent my early youth in pleasures. But then Christ spoke to me, and He transformed me. All this would not be possible if Christ were dead, if He had not Risen!'
Damian De Veuster, the sturdy and fiery Belgian farmer turned priest and missionary, is further proof of this transformation. He tells us, 'I went to the island of Molokai, and became a brother to the lepers there. I was able to resist in that Hell of Grief because Heaven was in my heart - the hope in the Risen Christ. In the end I died, a leper among the lepers. But I never actually lost anything that was of any value. In reality, I gained everything because I had followed the voice of the Risen Christ.'
The answer to the stirrings of hope within us is to be found in the Message of Sunday, April 16, Easter Sunday - all this is possible because He has risen.
We Christians know that humanity does have an aim, a goal or promised land: the Resurrection. But there is only one path leading to this goal: Jesus' life. In other words, to lead a life of love in the service of our neighbour, in forgiveness for wrongs received, and in charity for all, irrespective of race or creed, with Christ and for Christ!
A happy, holy Easter to all our readers!
Updated on October 06 2016