Day 91: Christ Rose from the Dead

Along with the essential sign of the empty tomb, the Resurrection of Jesus is witnessed to by the women who first encountered Christ and proclaimed him to the apostles. Jesus then “appeared to Cephas (Peter) and then to the Twelve. Following that he appeared to more than five hundred of the brethren at one time” (1 Corinthians 15:5-6) and to others as well. The apostles could not have invented the story of the resurrection since it seemed impossible to them. As a matter of fact, Jesus himself upbraided them for their unbelief. (Catechism Compendium #127)

In today's reading, the Catechism speaks of the most central part of our faith: Christ's resurrection from the dead. This was a real, historical event and as St. Paul writes, "[I]f Christ has not been raised, your faith is in vain; you are still in your sins" (1 Cor 15:17). There is no other dogma or teaching of the Church that is so crucial to our faith. Christ's real, bodily resurrection from the dead either happened or else Christianity as a whole is a total sham. The Catechism goes into this in some detail, and again I had trouble picking just one paragraph to quote above so I chose the summary from the Catechism Compendium instead.  

Besides the appearances of the resurrected Christ to others, including the Apostles, there is the testimony of the Apostles themselves and his earliest followers, many of whom suffered and died for their faith. As the Catechism Companion, Vol I states:

In Jesus, God fulfills all his promises ... but not in any of the ways the people expected. This breaking of human expectations is one of the reasons that the disciples, as eyewitnesses to the resurrection, encountered a reality they did not expect and could not understand. But belief in the resurrected Jesus transformed them and invigorated their faith, prompting them to spread the Gospel throughout the world and suffer any pains, even death, in service of Christ. (p. 187)

For more details about this, besides the Catechism and teaching of the Church, I'd recommend Dr. Brant Pitre's excellent book The Case for Jesus. And so, along with the faith of millions of believers for nearly 2,000 years, I happily shout out:  Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again!

Resurrection, by Luca Giordano, after 1665