From time immemorial, people have asked whether there really is life after death and, if so, what kind of life it would be. Some have suggested that life simply ends in nothingness. For them, the world is just a war-torn and violent waiting room where death has the last word.

We Christians, on the other hand, today shout “Alleluia” because Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead. His Resurrection is neither a myth nor a dream. It wasn’t a vision. Nor is it a fairy tale. It is a singular and unrepeatable event in the history of the cosmos.

At Easter we celebrate that He conquered sin and death, opening us to a future of hope. Thanks to Him, evil has been robbed of its power; failure can no longer hold us back from starting anew; and death has become a passage to eternal life.

This Easter the Church invites us to relive the thrilling experience of the disciples who encountered Jesus as a living Person. Today we too can encounter Him.

He might be right there before us: in a troubled son or daughter; a difficult spouse or family situation; a neglected person clamouring for our attention. He is waiting to be encountered as Risen Lord, but He wears many disguises. He is found in the poor, the sick, the trafficked, the addicted, the imprisoned, the abandoned, the homeless, and the marginalized in our midst.

As Bishop Robert Barron has written: “It all comes down finally to this: if Jesus was not raised from death, Christianity is a joke. But if he did rise from death, then Christianity is the fullness of God’s revelation, and Jesus must be the absolute center of our lives. There is no third option.”

If you sincerely seek the Lord, rest assured that you will find Him. Indeed, He will come to find you, to meet you. Calling you by name, He will take you into the intimacy of His love and ask you, in return, to share your experience with others.

 J. Michael Miller, CSB 
Archbishop of Vancouver