Editor’s Note: This is a summary of a homily by Fr. Ben Daghir during Easter.
The Resurrection is the core of the Christian faith. Everything hinges upon this great action from God.
Consider St. Paul’s words to the Corinthians, “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain” (1 Corinthians 15:16). Paul understood that everything hinges upon the Resurrection of Christ.
Like Paul, C.S. Lewis understood how the Resurrection is the line drawn in the Christian sand. Lewis stated that Jesus Christ was either a lunatic, a liar, or the Lord. If He didn’t rise from the dead then He was either a lunatic (a crazy man) or a liar (a wicked man who twisted prophecy).
Yet, the stone is rolled away. The tomb is empty this Easter morning. Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. For C.S. Lewis, the only option is that Jesus Christ is Lord. And, if Christ is Lord, then He is in charge of my life; all my hopes, dreams, aspirations, and plans. This means that I serve Him with my whole being.
Pope Benedict XVI often referred to the meaning of the Easter candle, which you can see on this altar today. Notice that the light from the candle increases precisely in the measure that the wax decreases. The only way for the light to brightly shine is if the wax dwindles. The message from this candle could not be clearer: you and I must decrease in sacrifice and service so that the light of the Risen Christ may radiate out to the world.
You and I must be like this Easter candle. We must decrease so that Jesus Christ may increase. We call this sainthood. Sainthood is a participation in St. John the Baptist’s great claim, “He must increase; I must decrease” (John 3:30). Sainthood also reflects Paul’s famous line, “I no longer live, Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). The Easter candle reflects sainthood: we decrease so that the light of the Risen Christ may radiate out to the world.
Of course, the Easter candle ultimately reflects Jesus Christ. It’s Jesus who decreased (much like the wax of this candle) and “though He was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance” (Philippians 2:5-7).
Even more, Jesus decreased and took the lowest place, “he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8). Jesus, like the movement of melted wax, then went lower and lower into the depths of hell to save humanity. Like a light radiating from melted wax, Jesus Christ rose from the dead on the third day.
The image of the candle reflects the sheer power of God’s grace seen in and through the Risen Christ. Pope Francis provides us with another Easter perspective. He has consistently challenged us with the image of the stone being rolled away. He poses the question, “If God has rolled away the stone of sin and death, then why are you still hesitant that He won’t roll away the heaviest stone in your life?” We all have a heavy stone. Something that blocks us from a remarkable relationship with the Lord and others.
This could be a sin, a grudge, a tragedy, a regret, a conflict, a fear. We all have something that confines and enslaves us much like a sealed tomb stuck in the darkness with no way out. Yet, Jesus Christ has rolled away the heaviest of stones: the stone of sin and death. The Easter Sunday message is that the stone has been rolled away and that from the depths of hell a light shines and the darkness cannot overcome it.
Like the wax of this candle, may we decrease so that the light of the Resurrection may shine. Like the followers of Jesus who encountered an empty tomb, may we now know that Jesus Christ is Lord.
+ Fr. Ben Daghir