Easter is the happiest day in the Christian Year. The fulfillment of A PROMISE 1200 years in the making culminated in events that were designed to change the world. And it has. The promise continues to be kept. “WE BELIEVE IN ALL THAT IS SEEN AND UNSEEN”—from our shared Creed. That belief is what created the “holes in the hearts” of theologians, scientists, and the Enlightenment and Renaissance philosophers. The same holes that were in the hearts of the ancient philosophers—Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Seneca, and Marcus Aralias.
For Naturalists and Empiricists and the Doubting Thomas’ amongst us it is easy to believe in a tree, or a puppy, or the sky because we can experience those (things) with our physical senses. But what about love, and kindness? What about gravity and the electromagnetic and strong and weak nuclear forces? What about the unseen and the spirit that is the ultimate energy for all things seen and unseen? What about Copernicus and Galileo? Didn’t they have to have faith in the unseen to explore what hadn’t yet been seen? From the beginning of “man-time”—15000 years ago the smallest thing the human eye could see was the width of a human hair. Hans Janssen and Antoni Von Leeuwenhoek —the inventors of the modern microscope had faith that there was a world beyond our physical capabilities of seeing—just like Copernicus the inventor of the modern telescope had faith in a universe beyond what humans could see with their own eyes.
The faith of a believing Christian demands nothing more than the faith of a scientist. To explore what we cannot see demands faith and ultimately a faith in God and His promise leads us to explore all of God’s creation. I believe in the Christian story. I believe in the promise of the Old Testament that was fulfilled on Easter morning and continues today. Today we have even more empirical evidence both in the archeological findings of modern times, but also historical confirmation of the events that occurred in the life of Christ and specifically around Easter. The historical documentation of the First Easter is beyond events documented in Tacitus’ Annals and Histories of Rome or Polybus’ History of Hannibal Barca 200 years before Christ.
Yet many give credence to these narratives in ways not afforded the better documented history of the early Christian Church—most importantly Easter. Looking under an electron microscope at a mitochondrion and knowing that it produces energy for life more efficiently than any human machine or looking at a single strand of DNA in a single cell that can be strung out for a mile and contains more information than any computer and can self-program itself across all of time gives reason for empiricists to believe in a Creator. If there is a creation, there must be a Creator. Celebrate the Creator, not the creation. Easter and Christ’s Resurrection is certainly easier to believe than the spontaneous evolution of a machine (mitochondria) or information system with hardware and code (DNA).
We live in a secular world. Discussions about God are routinely removed from “civil discourse”. Prayer in public schools and in the public square is either not allowed or frowned upon. Ironically in Federal and State Courts and in our legislative bodies we begin sessions with prayer, and we confirm testimony with oaths including “So help me God”. Public and private institutions acknowledge faith without respecting or believing in faith. Expressing my Catholic faith in doctors’ lounges at St. Luke’s and St. Al’s was never embarrassing. Daily Mass at St. Al’s was attended by many members of the medical and nursing staffs. There is no daily Mass at Al’s today and the institutional humanity of that institution has suffered especially in difficult times like during the political pandemic. Ask the doctors and nurses that still work there and used to attend daily mass. The first thing I would have done at that facility had I been able to do so would have been to reinstitute daily Mass during the pandemic.
For us to again become a great people and a great nation we must be willing to participate in another GREAT AWAKENING. We must believe and embrace the message of Easter and Christ’s example on The Cross. Forgiveness for our sins has been guaranteed if we acknowledge and repent for our own transgressions. Because of God’s promise to us we are called to forgive others. Holding onto feelings of pains inflicted by others, many who we love the most—or not, can be turned into self-inflicted wounds and tools of the Devil—hate for others becomes hate for ourselves—it works in both directions.
So, my hope for our shared Great Awakening is that we embrace Christ’s example and message on The Cross. Forgive. Show mercy. The definition of Mercy in The Catechism is the disposition to be kind, forgiving and compassionate. Compassion requires an action as opposed to sympathy and empathy. Let us remember that we are Stewards for the talents and abilities that have been given to us—that strand of DNA is long and runs through all the ages—forward and backwards.
Most importantly let us remember that God keeps His promises. Easter proves that. And let us give thanks for our only God given possession—Free Will—the predicate for man’s greatest gift to man—liberty. Today let’s take a break from the stresses of daily life—including politics, fake news, school, and work.
Forgiveness—Mercy—Gratitude all need to be part of our everyday life, especially in the world of contentious political differences and injustice—real and perceived.
“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you.” John 14:27
Happy Easter
